DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE AVENGERS OR HALF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY. MARVEL DOES. I own Sarah Natasha Rogers, SJ Rogers and a few minor characters, that's it.
THIS CHAPTER IS A LITTLE, um... weird. Yeah let's say weird. No flames!
Max Wolf or 13()1()24 (-)23()15()12()6 (Do you know how hard it was to get that number to actually show up on the document? I had to use the () as . and - instead. WTF!) as he was officially known is not a person you screw with. You piss him off and you had better kiss your ass goodbye. However, he had a soft spot for one person. Sarah Rogers. When she was smaller, he had been her cellmate. He was dangerous and so was she. They figured that they'd kill each other in the end and hey, two birds with one stone, right?
Wrong. The opposite happened, they got close because they could relate. At first it was Max giving her extra food, that escalated to Max teaching Sarah how to talk, and from there it went to developing a bond and then chasing each other's nightmares away for each other. When inducing them with drugs to kill each other didn't work either, they went to plan X (yes they got all the way to X). They ordered Max to mate with Sarah. Max was 16 years old and Sarah had been 13. Max refused, he loved Sarah too much to hurt her like that. So they were going to go to plan Y, artificially mating. They were curious to see what Max, a genetically altered human after birth, and Sarah, a clone with the genetics already altered, would produce. They managed to get Sarah alone one day when Max was training. When Max found out, he was furious. He promised he'd take Sarah away from all of the Corporation and that they could be safe finally. They got as far as the compound wall. Sarah was shot from behind and fell from the top of the wall back into the compound. Max was already out and had no way to get her back. So he ran. The pregnancy was a miscarriage. They learned Sarah's body could sustain a child unlike Natasha. They tried again but when Sarah found out, she stabbed herself with a knife during training and killed the fetus. They didn't try it after that.
Max Wolf went on to become a mercenary. His enhanced natural abilities allowed him to pull of tasks that no other mercenary could. But he still longed for Sarah. At the time, Max hadn't been informed of his "conditioning" and Sarah found out right after they tried to escape. His conditioning had made it so he could only "love" one person. And they forced that "love" to be Sarah. So Max wouldn't be satisfied with any other woman but Sarah. For once in her life, Sarah was happy she had been locked away. Now he had found her. He must have seen her somewhere in the city, or heard about her in some underground ring. Whatever it was, she was in deep trouble. She starts to pray SHIELD can find her soon.
"Come now, love, you used to like when I kissed you," Max whispers softly brushing his hand through a free part of her hair. "You look like a queen, do you know that?"
"Please Max, I want to go home."
"You are home. This will be our home now. I have something I want to show you." Max snaps his fingers and the cords on her wrists went slack. She pulls her hands out of the loops and rubs the small burn marks as they begin to heal. Max injects her with something and thinking becomes difficult.
"What did you give me?" she slurs.
"Just something to make sure you can't think straight," Max answers. Max hauls her to her feet and leads her through the halls. Sarah memorizes the place even though she has the drugs in her. They wouldn't last too long because of the serum in her body. Max drags her into a medical lab and grabs a disk off a desk. He places it on the back of her neck. Sarah hisses as she feels something dig into the skin.
"That will keep the dosage in you," Max says. Damn it. Max drags her through the hallways to a room with a one-way window. Inside the room, Rogue lays strapped to a table with five unconscious men around her. She's sleeping. "What the hell?"
"You should have known who you took with me," Sarah chuckles. "Don't touch her skin."
"If you miss behave, she is punished just like you," Max snarls. "What did she do to my men?"
"Well, some might be dead, the others might be alive. Depends on how long she was in contact with their skin," Sarah answers. Max growls and drags her back to the bedroom. He points at the bed.
"Lay down." Sarah does and Max breaks out a solid metal shackle for each wrist. He shackles her and wraps the cord around her chains. "I have to go deal with your friend, but I will be back." Max kisses her and slips his hand down the front of her shirt. She kicks him and he laughs. "You will be mine," he chuckles. He leaves and Sarah looks at her wrists above her head. She concentrates really hard, which causes her to get a migraine, but manages to activate the communicator.
"Anybody there?" Sarah asks softly.
"Iron Man here. Where are you?" Tony asks.
"Not completely sure. The building is large. I haven't seen any windows yet. But there are medical labs and a containment cell," Sarah answers. "They've got Rogue in a cell strapped to a table. She's unconscious. The men that tried to examine her are either dead or passed out, I couldn't tell."
"Who did this?" Iron Man inquires.
"His name is Max Wolf. He's a genetic experiment from my imprisoned days. He's got a nasty temper but his mental condition makes him love me and me only. If I don't behave, he'll hurt both me and Rogue."
"Then don't do anything to piss him off, please," Tony pleads. "Are you okay?"
"I have a drug that's affecting my thinking process. It's really hard…concentrating to keep the communicator going," Sarah replies. "There's this disk on the back of my neck, it does something to keep the drug in."
"Can you remove it?"
"Sort of bound by electrified metal cuffs," Sarah snaps back.
"Yeah, don't screw with those then. Just hang tight and we'll find you. The tracker in your gauntlet is weak but we have an idea where to go and Logan's got your scent. Hang tight."
"Got it Iron Man. I'm going to pass out now." Sarah releases her control of the gauntlet and lets the painful migraine force her to sleep. After about ten minutes, the migraine is gone but she still can't think clearly. The door to the room opens and Sarah looks to see Max there dragging Rogue in. Rogue is conscious but drugged up pretty badly by the looks of her.
"WHAT IS SHE!" Max demands.
"She absorbs people's life energy and powers through her skin," Sarah answers. "Memories too. If she's in contact with them too long they die."
"You protected that freak?"
"Me and you are freaks too," Sarah points out. Max snarls and throws Rogue into the bathroom. He locks the door and comes back over to Sarah. He punches her hard in the face causing the blond to yelp in pain.
"DO NOT GET LIPPY WITH ME!" he roars.
"Great, you're going to ruin my dress," Sarah mutters looking at her beautiful dress.
"No, I like this dress too much for that," he chuckles. He goes to the closet and grabs a pair of shorts and a tank top. After thinking a moment, he tosses them to the side and frees Sarah from her restraints. She tries to go for a shield but he pulls a gun on her.
"Don't even think about it. Strip." Sarah almost cries. She was not looking forward to what he was about to do to her. She reaches behind her back and pulls on the knot holding the dress together. She pulls the string until she can move the dress easily. There's a reason she had people helping her with this dress, it's a little hard to get in and out of. She pulls the fabric up away before laying it out on the chair next to the bed. She puts the hairpiece inside of the sleeves.
"The gauntlets."
"The one doesn't come off. It's fused to my skin," she states.
"Fine, the other one then." Sarah takes it off and places it with the dress. She kicks off the heels and puts them on the dress. She removes the supporting clothes leaving her only in her underwear. She remains with her back to Max. He walks closer and runs his hand up and down her back.
"So smooth," he whispers softly. He kisses the back of her neck and licks her earlobe.
"Don't do this Max, please," Sarah begs.
"I'm going to make you beg for me to get you off," he whispers into her ear. "Face down on the bed." Sarah climbs onto to the bed glad for her underwear on and her chest being hidden in the mattress. He restrains her again and puts the gun down. He kisses her back trying to get moans from the teen. She refuses to indulge him. He touches her causing her to whimper. He removes her underwear and she buries her face in the comforter. Just as he's about to do unspeakable things to her, an alarm goes off. He runs out the door, leaving the gun on the table next to the bed.
"ROGUE!" Sarah shouts. The door to the bathroom breaks down and Rogue hurries to her side. Rogue snaps the cuffs using her new strength and helps Sarah quickly redress. Rogue crushes the disk on her neck and holds the shoes and hairpiece out to Sarah.
"Carry them for me. Thank you. I knew you weren't that drugged up," Sarah mutters.
"Ah mah actress." Sarah grabs the gun and puts her hand to the gauntlet not trusting her mind to access the computer.
"Tony you there?"
"We're in the base fighting off goons. You're two levels down from the ground. But if you go to the right out of the room you're in there's a staircase," Tony explains quickly.
"Thanks." Sarah shoots the lock and Rogue tears the door out when the lock refuses to open. They run down the hallway and into the staircase. The pair, now working with their brains not clouded, makes it up the stairs quickly. Coming out into the lobby of the building, they see the fight.
"Him," Rogue snarls looking at Max who is going after Logan and Steve with a gun. Sarah raises the pistol in her hand and shoots twice. The gunshots pierces the air bringing everything to a grinding stop. Max clutches his shoulder with one hand and falls limply to the ground from the shot to his kneecap. Sarah walks up and grabs him by the hair.
"Be thankful I missed on purpose, bastard. I want to kill you."
"Then why don't you?"
"I'm an Avenger. If I killed you, I would be no better than you. Someone put him in cuffs," Sarah snarls shoving him to the ground. She hands the gun over to Luke who crushes it into dust. "Can we go home now?" she asks. Rogue laughs and hands her the hairpiece and her shoes.
"Watch out!" Peter yells. They turn to see Max breaking free of Scott's grip. He pulls his gun again and goes to shoot Sarah. An arrow sticks out of his chest and the gun falls to the ground. Everyone looks at Hawkeye.
"I wasn't about to let my niece get shot. The helicarrier is over head and they're sending a jet to take Sarah and Rogue up to get medical checks before they're cleared to go," Hawkeye explains.
"Great," Sarah says dryly. SHIELD agents sweep the whole base. Steve finds out about the room and asks Sarah. She tells him the truth and Steve holds his baby when she starts crying not even getting past being tied up on the bed when she woke up. The doctor walks in after she calms down with the results.
"She's fine. The drugs have already left her system and the burns healed. She's fine, Mr. Rogers. You can take her home."
"Thanks Doc. Come on baby girl." Sarah grabs her dress's bag from the chair. Maria had brought her some spare clothes and she had already changed into them. She puts the hairpiece and shoes in another bag and carries them both. She leans into Steve who wraps an arm around her to comfort her. They say goodbye to the X-Men, Laura, Rogue, and a few of the other girls promising to come shopping after Christmas. Rogue was fine too and didn't mention what had happened at the base.
"Professor Xavier," Sarah says softly before they leave.
Yes Sarah?
When can I come up and talk to you? she asks nervously in her mind looking at the Professor.
Why don't you have someone drive you up tomorrow? I can tell how much this affected you. Say brunch? Xavier suggests.
Sure. Um, I'll see if my dad will bring me. He can hang out with Logan while we talk.
"That sounds like a plan, Sarah," Charles says aloud. "Steve would you bring Sarah up to the Institute for a bit tomorrow? She needs to talk to me about something. Say ten o'clock?"
"We'll be there." The two groups part ways. Peter hugs Sarah who cries into his shoulder silently. When they land at the Tower, Sarah walks away from the group with her things and retreats into her room. She places her dress in the closet and hides the shoes and hairpiece in the spot above her bed. She changes into her nightclothes and puts the spare clothes in her travel bag. She digs into her bag from Asgard and takes out something that Frigga had given her. They didn't have many toy toys in Asgard, but Frigga's gift was amazing. It was a little doll, quite lifelike actually, that looked exactly like Sarah, only it showed her true emotions on the doll. She grabs the second doll she has, the one of Loki, and the third, Sif's doll, and then lastly the one of Frigga. She sets them on the bed and her hand glows softly before the dolls come to life.
Sif Doll creates a soft slope on the mattress sheets before easing the Sarah Doll down onto the sheets. She wraps her arms around Sarah Doll and Sarah Doll cries her eyes out. Frigga Doll comforts her as well but the two female dolls soon realize they can't help Sarah Doll the way she needs to be helped. Sarah Doll lies alone on the bed for a second before Loki Doll steps closer and then gets down on his knees in front of Sarah Doll. He crawls up to her side and wraps an arm around her waist softly. Sarah knows that the Loki Doll is whispering soothing words in Sarah Doll's ears. Sarah Doll turns her face into Loki Doll's chest and cries harder. Loki Doll soothes her for a while. Then he sits her up and points at the blankets around them. The enchantment on the doll gave him enough power to create a regular sized emerald green rose with a golden stem and leaves. All the Dolls work together and set it on Sarah's laps. Sarah smiles and brush's each doll's head before they return to the bag on their own. The rose is fragile but beautiful.
"My brother taught you magic," Thor remarks from the door. Sarah looks up startled. "I did not mean to disturb you. I have seen that look on Loki's face many times growing up. I hope you aren't about to turn down the road he did."
"No, no I won't," she insists. Sarah sets the rose on the bedside table. "Frigga gave me the dolls but Loki taught me how to enchant them so they'd actually act out the scene."
"You care deeply for my brother. Like siblings, yes?" Thor asks coming into the room. He motions to the bed and Sarah moves over so he can sit there.
"Yes like siblings," Sarah confesses. "We're quite close. I wish I didn't have to leave him there."
"Why?" Thor questions.
"Because he's a changed person. I miss him dearly."
"Would you be happy with him here?" Thor asks. Sarah nods softly staring at her hands. "I shall talk to my father about him visiting or perhaps moving here. I promise. Would you like that?" Sarah nods and Thor wraps an arm around her shoulders. "And as for what happened today, you are not weak for what happened. You are one of the strongest people I know. And I will be honored to have you on the team in a few years fighting alongside us."
"Thor, you will be a wise king," Sarah tells him hugging the god. Thor smiles and holds his niece close to his body. Thor leaves and Sarah feels a bit more relaxed. She concentrates and opens a sphere in the air; the spell uses the pendant more than her own meager magic. The spell had been woven into the pendant by Loki.
"Sarah," Loki says seeing her face in the orb, "I didn't expect you to contact me so soon."
"I needed to see your face," Sarah answers.
"What happened?"
"It is nothing, Loki. We are fine. I just wanted to see you, hear your voice. Thor says hi." Loki smiles softly as he thinks of his brother. "How are you?"
"I am well. I'm out of the castle, sitting on a hill watching the sunset," Loki answers. Sarah smiles knowing where he is. "What about you?"
"Sitting on my bed."
"Is that why it is so dark?"
"Yes."
"Sleep well, my little one."
"Sleep well, my lord." Loki smiles softly and Sarah closes the viewing sphere.
"Miss him that much?" Natasha asks from the doorway.
"Yes."
"Thor told me he's going to inquire to the All-Father. Steve and I approve. Does that help your homesickness for him?"
"Some."
"So, besides trans-dimensional communication, what other magic can you do?" Natasha asks coming into the room. Sarah smiles and retrieves one of the dolls. Natasha walks over and sees it's the Loki Doll. Sarah smiles at her mother before casting a simple spell on the doll. It jerks to life and looks between the two women. Sarah whispers something in his ear and the doll leaps from her hand over to Natasha's lap. He smiles up at her and then points to the fresh roses on the desk. A magic spell crosses the room and makes the rose into a gem rose. He runs across the room, retrieves the rose, and brings it back to Natasha. He sits down in Sarah's hand and goes limp again.
"That's about as much as I can do tonight. I know other tricks as well," Sarah says putting the doll away. "Loki says I'm a natural, but being human, I don't have vast powers."
"Are you sure you're not part Asgardian?" Natasha inquires.
"Sif and Frigga asked me that many times. I blame it on the science that made me. Magic is just science we don't understand." Natasha laughs and kisses Sarah's forehead.
"Go to bed. You and Steve have to leave in the morning, remember?" Sarah nods and slips under her blankets. Natasha takes the rose with her and puts it in her room. Sarah's sleep is haunted by visions of Max.
"Ready to go sweetheart?" Steve asks coming into Sarah's room the next morning. Sarah nods, dressed in jeans, a T-Shirt, and a zip up sweater. The pair goes to the jet and flies toward the Institute. "Can I ask why we're going?"
"Just need some counseling and Professor Xavier has a degree in psychology," Sarah answers. "Don't worry Dad." Steve sighs and points out the window. Sarah gazes down at the town as they come closer to the Institute. Steve lands the jet in the yard where Storm and Logan are waiting. Logan wraps his leather jacket around Sarah when she gets out of the jet.
"It's a little cold out for just a sweater kid," Logan chuckles.
"Thanks Logan."
"How are the kids?" Steve asks the pair.
"They're healing. A good portion of them are gone for the holidays," Storm answers. "I'm taking my nephew to go see family once he's done eating." They enter the Institute and Sarah hands Logan his coat back. Storm leads Sarah to the lounge room where Charles is waiting. Logan and Steve go off to talk about war stories.
"Come in," Charles says without the pair having to knock. Sarah walks in and Storm leaves her with the Professor. "I'm glad you took me up on the offer. I can sense the stress."
"Yesterday didn't exactly help either," Sarah mutters. Charles motions to the couch.
"Please sit. I have some toast and tea if you'd like some?" Charles says motioning to the two trays. "I can sense your hunger. It's on your brain."
"Didn't want to go to breakfast this morning," Sarah answers. Charles brings the tray table over and Sarah thanks him. She nibbles on the toast and sips the tea.
"So, would you like me to pick a topic or you? During my visits into your brain I have seen many troubling things you'd like to talk about," Charles states sitting down with his own tray table.
"I don't know where to start really."
"Let's start with last night, shall we? Get the freshest one out of the way," Charles suggests. "Who is Max Wolf to you?"
"Professor, you've seen that I was detained for the majority of my life yes?" Sarah asks.
"I saw that side of you, yes."
"Max Wolf is what happens when an experiment goes wrong. The people that created me, we called them the Corporation because they worked for someone somewhere. Max Wolf was my protector and hero for a number of months when I was younger. We were both dangerous so they thought we'd destroy each other, but we bonded. They tried to use that bond to create kids using our DNA. Max found out about the injection and tried to get us out. He got out. I was shot in the stomach. He had no choice but to leave me behind. Lost the kid too.
"Max had a condition where he, imprinted I guess, on whoever he "loved" the most. I was that target of affection. When we were younger, it was innocent. But when they tried to bring us together, that imprinting made him go into "overprotective husband mode" I guess. Last night was him finding me because of the imprinting. He wanted to continue the relationship. I did not," Sarah explains.
"So you were friends with him once?"
"Yes."
"Logan informed me you shot him. Twice."
"Well, he threatened me."
"Start from the beginning, when you woke up," Charles coaxes.
"I woke up bound to a bed with my name, face, and pictures plastered all over the room. Max came out and kissed me forcibly, telling me I was his now. He took me to see Rogue after giving me a drug to keep me disoriented. He wasn't happy when he found out that Rogue's gifts could knock people unconscious. He chained me back up and left to deal with Rogue. That's about the time I contacted Tony. He brought her into the room, demanded to know what she was, and threw her into the bathroom and locked her in." Sarah pauses as she gets to the next part. It was painful to remember. To realize just how close it had been was scary.
"What happened, Sarah? Doctor-patient privilege unless you want me to tell your father." Sarah draws a shaky breath and brings her legs up to her chest.
"He, he made me undress," she stammers shakily. "And then he came up behind me, kissing me, licking me, and running his hands over me. I wanted to fight, but he had a gun. And he had more training than me. Even then, I don't think I could have killed him, which is what I would have had to do." The tears start to come. Sarah's shaking hands go to her hair. She pushes it back and smoothes it out. "He had me lay down face first on the bed and he bound me again. He started to kiss me and touch me. I was so scared! I turned my face into the mattress because I didn't want him to see how weak I was. We were told to never be seen crying growing up. I…I knew it was only a matter of time. He took off the last article of clothing I had. I just wanted it to be over! I wanted to be home. I didn't want him to be touching me," Sarah sobs. She hides her face in her knees sobbing. Charles comes over and sits in front of her. He sets a soft hand on her shoulder and she leans into his comforting arms.
"What happened next?"
"The alarms went off and he left," Sarah says a little stronger now. "I yelled for Rogue and she broke out. We came and found everyone after that."
"That's when you shot him."
"Yeah. I wanted to kill him for what he had done to me, to Rogue. But I knew that prison would be a worse fate for him. He tried to kill me when I let him live. Hawkeye killed him with an arrow," Sarah whispers. "I've never been happy with myself when I'm glad to see a human being dead. But I didn't have to worry about him anymore."
"Who else have you seen dead that you were glad was dead?"
"My clone brothers, the evil ones. And then the other people at the corporation. Other than the Doc she's nice."
"Other than Steve Junior, did you have other nice clone brothers?" Charles inquires.
"Well, yes and no," Sarah replies. "There was one, Michael, he was nice in the beginning but he betrayed me, but then he tried to take me away from there and died in my arms. He was like a dad to me. He was ten years older than me."
"How about you tell me about the corporation? A lot of your issues have to deal with them," Charles remarks.
"What they did to me, they should have gotten a less merciful death than they got," Sarah snarls. "They beat me, conditioned me, trained me into the ground, used me as a game, and forced me to kill." Charles sighs as Sarah starts to tell him about her earliest memories. This was going to be a long day.
"What do you think they're talking about?" Logan asks Steve as they sit playing cards. It had been four hours since they got here and Steve is getting a little nervous.
"With what she's been through? Anything," Steve mutters.
"Right now their talking about the Corporation," Emma says coming in with Scott. "I had to bring another box of tissues."
"We're going to be here a while then," Steve comments folding the hand.
"Now they're talking about someone she lost in Asgard," Emma comments. "Does the name Gunnarr mean anything to you Captain?"
"No. We don't know much about her trip to Asgard," Steve answers.
"Can you tell us more, Captain?" Scott asks.
"You know how Laura was raised, right?" Logan asks Scott to which the teen nods. "Her but worse."
"We found Sarah well it'll be a year come February 4th," Steve says. "She was locked in a dark damp cell behind a false wall. Natasha and I found her in there, scared, alone, and in pain. Her legs were cut up pretty bad. She was underfed. She hadn't seen sunlight in months. I saw a lot of things in the war and she topped a good majority of those experiences. She didn't even have a name, so I gave her one."
"Yeah, she's had it worse than me," Laura says walking in. "We talked about it a few times. I was treated a bit nicer. She flipped out on James when he grabbed her by the collar to take her to the training room."
"He did what?" Steve growls.
"Easy, Steve," Logan warns. "Sarah and Laura had dealt with someone that made an inappropriate comment toward Laura. Sarah held the guy while Laura hit him where the sun don't shine. I hauled Laura by her collar and James grabbed Sarah by her collar so we could go train. She floored him. That's when we all really learned about her past."
"God, we were so stupid," Steve mutters rubbing his face. "I should have had someone counsel her. But she looked so well adapted. Sure there was the incident her first day of school but we all expect that."
"Bring her up here every so often; I'm sure the Prof will help her. He's helped all of us," Scott says. Steve nods and rubs his face again.
"Logan, remind me to ask Charles to talk to Junior too. I'd like to know if he's going to have as hard of time with everything like Sarah," Steve says. Logan nods and Emma presses a hand to her head suddenly.
"Charles is going to come talk to you, Steve. He has a proposition," Emma explains. Steve nods and goes to meet the professor. Charles motions to his school office and they sit down.
"How's Sarah?" Steve asks.
"She's resting right now. I had to do a psychic session with her to see how bad it really was. She gave me permission to talk about everything to you. I believe it is in Sarah's best interests that we block out some of the more painful memories. She can take the majority of them but there are some that will torment her for the rest of her life if she doesn't find a way to block them out," Charles explains.
"Are you saying you can make them disappear?" Steve asks.
"No, simply lock them away behind a wall. I already talked to Sarah about this and she's fine with the idea. She will still retain everything she learned for the experiences but the memories and dreams that emerge because of them will be blocked out unless something broke that wall," Charles explains. "Her mind is strong the wall shouldn't fall unless she wants it to fall."
"Are there any risks involved?"
"I am blocking away the most traumatic event from last night. She'll remember everything from around that but not the event," Charles explains. "It may cause some confusion if people try to talk to her about it. I wouldn't ask her too much about last night if I do the block."
"What happened to her?" Steve asks. "Or does Sarah not want me to know. I mean, she told me what she could until she started crying."
"She doesn't want you to think she's weak. But I think you should know. Max had her remove her clothes and was about to rape her. The only thing that stopped him was the alarm going off. She's traumatized from the incident," Charles tells him. Steve thinks for a solid minute.
"Do it," Steve settles. "She's got enough bad memories. Can I talk to her first?"
"Of course. Two doors down the hall on the left. I'll wait here," Charles says. Steve nods and walks down the hall to the room. Sarah is lying on the couch with her eyes closed but the way she's breathing and the tears still running down her face tells him she's awake.
"Hey sweetheart," Steve says walking closer. Sarah looks at him and her eyes widen. "I talked with the Professor." Steve kneels next to the couch and puts his hand on her cheek. "I told him he can put the wall up, if you want it." Sarah nods and Steve strokes her hair. "Sweetheart, you are not weak. You're the strongest person I know. You've survived things that no person should endure. I am so proud of you. Just remember that, okay?"
"Will you stay with me?"
"Of course I will sweetheart. What type of father would leave his daughter?" Steve questions. Sarah wraps her arms around Steve and buries her face in his shoulder. Steve is doing this for her; she doesn't need to remember those things. Charles comes in and nods to Steve. Steve holds Sarah's hand as Charles enters her mind. Steve watches his girl's face nervously as they put the walls up in her head. After ten minutes, Charles sits back and Sarah opens her eyes. Steve sees more hope in those eyes than he's ever seen before.
"How do you feel?" Charles asks.
"At peace," Sarah answers. "Thank you."
"Of course. I believe Rogue would like to say goodbye to you before you leave," Charles states. Sarah nods and runs off to find her friends. "If she has any problems, contact me."
"Thank you, Professor Xavier. I was wondering if I could bring my son up here and have you talk to him. They didn't have him as long as Sarah but I don't want to have my son in the same pain Sarah's been in," Steve states.
"Of course. Bring him by the day after Christmas and I shall have a talk with him," Charles insists.
"Thank you. Until next time, Professor." Charles nods and watches Steve leave. Steve finds Sarah hugging Laura and Rogue in the lounge. Logan looks at Steve and Steve nods in approval.
"Sarah, how about Laura and Rogue come see you the day after Christmas?" Steve asks. "I'm bringing Junior up here, they can come visit you."
"Really Dad? That'd be great!" Laura and Rogue agree causing Sarah to smile brighter. Sarah and Steve go back to the jet and travel back to the Tower.
"Sarah, who is Gunnarr?" Steve asks as Sarah plays with the zipper of her sweatshirt.
"He was friend of mine in Asgard. A very dear friend. He died protecting me," Sarah whispers softly. She looks up at Steve and he can see some sorrow in her eyes. "I really wanted him to meet you all. He was excited about seeing Midgard." Steve roughs up her hair, causing her to smile. The rest of the trip is spent talking about what the Avengers did while she was gone. They enter New York and Natasha meets them at the hanger.
"How are you dear?" Natasha asks as they walk out of the jet.
"At peace for the most part," Sarah says with a smile. "Where's SJ?"
"Gym, he's waiting for you with Clint and Thor." Sarah beams and sprints to the gym. Natasha looks at Steve. "So?"
"Professor Xavier put walls up for the worst memories. Including one from last night," Steve says sadly. "Wolf tried to rape her." Natasha's face drops and Steve catches his fiancée before she can fall.
"My baby."
"I know. I'm taking SJ up there the day after Christmas to talk to Xavier. I want to make sure he can talk and operate," Steve says.
"All right. Uh, Pepper wanted to see us about Christmas." Steve nods and they walk out of the room to find Miss Potts.
"Nat," Steve says as the travel in the elevator, "does the name Gunnarr mean anything to you?"
"Sarah mentioned him briefly. Said he was someone she cared about deeply and that he died saving her life," Natasha tells him. "Why?"
"Xavier mentioned him. I asked Sarah but she didn't give me much for details other than Gunnarr wished to visit Earth," Steve replies.
"Hm. We'll ask Thor later. Pep! Look who I found hanging out in the hanger bay!" Natasha chuckles as they find Pepper. Steve rolls his eyes and puts up with the women.
"Come on brother of mine! You can do better than that!" Sarah taunts as SJ tries to get around Thor to get to the basket.
"How is this fair?" Clint demands. "A super soldier and a god on the same team, NOT FAIR!"
"Would you rather two super soldiers on one team?" Thor questions.
"No."
"Then that settles it," Sarah laughs. Sarah and Thor are one team while SJ and Clint are on another. Sarah gets the ball from SJ and dunks it into the hoop. "HA!"
"What's the score Bruce?" Clint asks.
"Fifty to fifty five," Bruce answers. "Thor and Sarah in the lead."
"I see you repaired the floor," Sarah says offhandedly.
"Mom flipped," SJ chuckles passing it to Clint who dunks the ball.
A while later Bruce opens his mouth again, "How long are you going to keep going? You're at 150 to 170," Bruce states. They hadn't specified a time limit or points for cut off."
"Who is in the lead, Bruce?" Thor inquires.
"You and Sarah."
"I quit," Clint gives up. "I am dead tired. How long have we been at this?"
"Two hours," Bruce answers curtly. Sarah laughs and plops down on a bench. Bruce tosses her a water and she downs the whole bottle.
"What next?" SJ asks.
"Sarah, maybe you could tell us some tales from Asgard," Thor suggests. "Of glorious adventures perhaps?"
"Does getting in a battle with the popularly proclaimed Goddess of War count?" Sarah asks. "Odin was not happy to find out we did quite a bit of damage to the arena."
"What did you do?" Clint asks with a laugh.
"Sif and I got in an argument over what type of training to do. She challenged me to a fight and I accepted. The worst idea I've ever had," Sarah mutters.
"All right, everyone change, go to the lounge, get food, drinks, and Sarah is going to tell stories!" SJ settles. "And more than just one." Sarah rolls her eyes and leaves the gym. She had quite a few stories for them. Sarah goes to her room and cleans up. She retrieves the journal she and Sif had written their adventures in and starts to flip through the stories as she walks. She walks to the lounge SJ had been talking about, the one the family hangs out in after dinner, to find the four of them were waiting. Natasha and Pepper can be heard cooking in the kitchen and talking about Christmas. Steve can be heard in Tony's office talking with the man himself. Sarah takes a seat and SJ hands her a soda.
"Thanks SJ. Uh, I don't know what one to tell first," Sarah says looking at the journal.
"The one with Lady Sif," Bruce suggests. "I'd like to know how you did against her." Sarah laughs as she opens the journal to the page. She skims it a bit to recall just what happened that faithful day. It had happened the fourth or fifth day she had been there after all and that was quite a while ago.
"Sif and I had just finished breakfast and went to the arena to train. When we arrived, Brunnhilde had come to train me there as well, and the Warriors Three were there. Each group proposed a different type of training. Sif wished to battle hand to hand. Brunnhilde wished to teach me the art of archery with their bows. The Warriors Three wished to test out my skills, well Fandral and Hogun. Volstagg was too busy eating a boar," Sarah remarks.
"Yes Volstagg loves his food," Thor chuckles deeply.
"I told Sif I wished to test myself against Fandral and Hogun but she said I was not ready. I told her I knew that but I just wanted to see how far I had to go. She said if I must test my skills then it would be against her. She drew her sword and Brunnhilde tossed me a sword to use…"
The story telling went on for quite some time. Toward the end, the boys were getting anxious to find out who won the fight.
"As Sif and I prepared to attack each other again standing on opposite piles of rubble in the arena, a crack of lightning went off between us. It was then that the All-Father decided to intervene. He called us both children. Naturally, being a child, I stuck my tongue out at him, and Sif copied. We went to bed with no supper. However, Frigga snuck food into our rooms for us," Sarah chuckles.
"My mother is quite nice," Thor chuckles.
"She is. Shall I regale you with another story?" Sarah inquires.
"Yes please!" SJ says from his place on the floor with a pillow tucked under his head.
HEY! THERE IS A PREQUEL TO THIS STORY! IT IS UNDER 7000 WORDS! IT IS ABOUT STEVE AND NATASHA IF YOU WISH TO READ IT! IT IS CALLED THE CAPTAIN AND THE BLACK WIDOW! ENJOY!
Hi. Hi. HI! HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIII!
Do I have your attention now?
Good. Now, first of, review please, it gives me fuel. Secondly, I updated mid week for a two reasons, to tell you about the prequel story and because I've had a lot of people demand to know who Max Wolf is. I created the character so I could kill him off immediately.
Yes, there will be another Asgard story in the next chapter.
No flames about Sarah using magic. My idea is that she was made by science, so her connection to magic (science that you do not understand, to reiterate Thor) is natural and since she's an open minded person, she'd probably be able to use it. So, no bitching.
Uh, third... Crap what was my third one? I really need to right these things down. Oh, wow, this is like number five actually, uh... OH YEAH! Can I please get TEN legit reviews? PLEASE?! It tells me people give a damn.
AND LASTLY, my author's questions will likely reemerge within the next few chapters. There will be repeats.
I think that's it. OH YEAH! I HAVE FRIDAY OFF OF SCHOOL SO I MIGHT UPDATE SATURDAY INSTEAD OF SUNDAY!