A/N: I'm quite proud of myself I've been pushing out chapters now about two to three a day. I really want to get this done and completed so I can push out the next one. I know it's been years since I touched this story. I get writers block or I don't describe things well so this is my first time having to go back and rewrite some stuff. Thank you to the people who have read Kindred and now gotten this far with Forgotten. I do intend to make this a Saga if people are interested. Feedback is always welcome!
I also named this chapter after one of my favorite Paramore songs because it fit really well with the chapter. If you wanna give it a listen to it while reading go right ahead.
It was nearing afternoon as Mia sat in the mess hall eating having changed into her standard uniform. All of Shield was on alert right now and news spread fast of what happened to Fury. Mia was tired, though not her first round of having gone a night without sleep this one had particularly been draining. She could barely stomach the soup that was in front of her now. The dry bread she was picking at seemed to be the only thing keeping her stomach happy. Mia sighed, deciding to abandon her food and stood up and walked out. That's when a Strike Agent was heading her way and she stopped as he approached.
"Secretary Pierce would like a word with you in his office." he said.
"Secretary Pierce?" Mia reiterated a little disbelieving. But the mercenary wouldn't move as Mia then brushed by him and headed towards the elevator. Confused, but following orders she got in and ordered the computer to take her up to the top floor where Pierce's office was. As she walked down the hall to the entry of his office she saw Steve coming out. Steve looked at her but merely nodded.
"Captain." Mia said.
"Agent Harper." he brushed by her and made his way out and Mia turned the corner.
"Come in Agent Harper." Secretary Alexander Pierce called for her. Mia entered the office seeing a familiar theme of open windows to look around DC. She saw secretary Pierce sitting on the edge of his desk his hands in his pockets. He looked rather perturbed but he smiled at her none the less. Mia stood there not daring to go in much further but went to the center of the room. Pierce stood up from his desk and came up to her as he extended his hand. Mia took it as she shook it.
"You requested my presence Secretary Pierce?"
"Yes I wanted to hear your report for myself. I read it of course but people are far much easier to read instead of papers." he said causally letting her hand go. "I understand that you were also with Captain Rogers at the time of Nick's death?"
"I was sir." she nodded.
"And that you left Agent 13 to go in pursuit of the shooter."
"I did."
"So you left the Director of Shield to die?"
"I made a judgement call. I don't think it was the right one."
"No. Look Agent Harper I know you are highly skilled. You have had twenty-two successful missions since being back at Shield and you've shown quite an aptitude to learning how things operate around here. You've followed orders and your reviews are nothing more than stellar. Nick often told me how fond he was of you. That the mutant and government relations could learn from having you on our side."
Mia never knew how deep Fury's consideration of her went. She was flattered but it also made her all the more sad.
"Why was Director Fury at Captain Rogers' apartment?" he asked bluntly and Mia's eyes shot back to his.
"I don't know sir." she lied. She was much more proficient though at lying than Steve was. She mastered her feelings having been able to control and manipulate others. Mia tried to dive into his mind but was met with a blank wall. A black vast of nothingness. Either he was a robot or he was so absolutely skilled at blocking her that she could almost believe he was a mutant too.
"See this pin." he said pointing to the pin on the pocket of his vest. It was the Shield logo. "This pin has a microchip in it. When you worked for Stark Industries you developed a transmitter that scrambled telepathic wave lengths. Oscorp stole this technology and when the incident in Albany happened Shield recovered it. I, and a few others have it to better block you out. See I don't particularly like people messing around with my head, I like it the way things are up there. And I find that people who have access to others secrets tend to be a threat. You're like a walking antenna just dialed into information."
Mia felt a trickle of fear run down her spine.
"I told Nick I didn't think it was a good idea to bring you back into the fold but he vouched for you. You see when you were a doctor Shield was going to recruit you but now that you're more brawn than brains I have little use for you. See I have all the muscle I can want."
"It was you." Mia said lowly. "Why?"
"Nick was my friend, but sometimes friends can only hold you down."
Mia's eyes began to glow white but Pierce held up a finger as he wagged it back and forth. Mia then heard the sounds of guns being armed and she turned to see Strike Agents with rifles trained on her. She looked back to Pierce then. If she was in trouble that meant Steve was too.
"As for Captain Rogers he is currently being dealt with. As for you dear, it would be wise not to struggle. I don't want you ruining my office."
"You know bullets can't hurt me right?"
"I knew you wouldn't be so cooperative which is why we have this." Pierce took a remote from his desk and pointed it at the screen on the wall and a video feed popped up of a glass container prison and inside was a blue scaled woman with yellow eyes and red hair.
"Raven?" Mia looked at the screen and she glared back at Pierce. "How dare you?!"
Her snarl echoed in the room and she made for him but she stopped as the Strike Agents edged nearer.
"We found her snooping around a Shield facility and through information you had sent out."
"My loyalties have always been here. But I cannot ignore the fact that you have mutants contained in your custody. Was I supposed to sit by while you experiment on my kind and extort them for you benefit and gain?" she said powerfully. "Was I supposed to let my brothers and sisters die while their powers be turned into weapons as you checked off one by one on this Index of yours?"
"You weren't supposed to know at all. You weren't even supposed to be involved in my plans. You're nothing more than a thorn in my side that has been itching for far too long. Now, I'm going to cut you out. Now, you won't stand in my way. Detain her."
He ordered and next she knew her arms were being grabbed. She struggled only a little bit but an Agent came in front of her as she saw the butt of the rifle and it went straight at her and the next thing she knew she was met with darkness.
2001: Upstate New York
Mia was sitting in the back seat of a cab with her brother. It was summer vacation and every summer they went and visited her Aunt Peggy in upstate New York. Their Great Uncle had died a while ago and so it was left with just her in the large house by herself. Her children long since moved on and so she only had her grandchildren and nieces and nephews to keep her company. Mia knew her cousin Sharon was already there but this was the only time she left the house to do anything worth while. And it wasn't like her parents could disagree as Aunt Peggy paid for everything.
Stephan sat next to her as he looked out the window. She was ten and he was about seven years of age. His head of messy hair and brown eyes looked about with curiosity. He held onto his backpack in his lap and Mia smiled at him.
The cab came to a halt down the end of a long road to a old cottage type home. There, Mia saw her Aunt Peggy come out from the front door waving to them. She threw the door open and ran out her arms wide as they wrapped around her Aunt. Aunt Peggy was her most favorite person in the world next to her brother. She always made them dinner, tucked them in at night and read. It was one of the rare times Mia ever felt like she had a parent.
"Oh look at you." Peggy said as she took her by the shoulders and looked at her. "You are growing up so quick."
"Aunt Peggy!" Stephan too ran from the cab as he came up next wrapping his arms around Peggy and held on tight to her skirts. "Aunt Peggy, Aunt Peggy!" he jumped with excitement.
"Who is this young man!" she exclaimed and hugged him tight. "Let's get your bags and come inside, I made you lunch."
After Aunt Peggy helped them inside Mia looked up at the stairs to see a little blonde girl about her age in a white dress.
"Sharon!" she raced towards the girl and the two hugged. Sharon was a little taller than Mia at this point and Sharon was also about twelve at this time. "I missed you, how has school been?"
"Good, I'm really glad it's summer though. I can't wait to go horseback riding and swimming."
"I'm just happy to be away from home."
"Does Aunt Shannon not talk to you still? Or Uncle Franz?"
"No, not really." Mia frowned.
"It's okay. Let's get lunch I'm really hungry and Aunt Peggy made chicken and dumplings."
"My favorite!" Mia grabbed Sharon's hand and pulled her down the rest of the stairs as the two made their way into the kitchen.
Aunt Peggy was already serving up food for Stephan and together they sat at the table. Aunt Peggy looked at the children with fondness as she felt her life was so complete. She could hardly believe that these were her nieces and nephew. It didn't seem that long ago the war happened and now, she had a family of her own. The little one sitting in front of her was the most interesting of all. She was special. She was gifted.
But Peggy saw how skinny she was and how gaunt her face was. She saw her red hair hung limp and had no luster to it from undernourishment. The old clothes hung off her body like drapes as the pants seemed to big for her and the shirt not quite right. Peggy reminded herself to buy the girl some new clothes.
As if sensing her thoughts Mia looked up, her blue eyes filled with a much greater sense than that should have for her age. Peggy smiled and so did Mia.
"After lunch I was thinking we could take the dogs out for a walk?"
"I get to walk Bruno!" Stephan called out and at that moment as if hearing his name a large Mastiff came bounding into the kitchen only to be shooed away by Peggy.
Mia groaned as she felt a sharp pain in her head and slowly she opened her eyes. She was sitting in a chair, in a room, in what seemed to be a bank vault. She was chained pretty heavily to a chair and felt the sedation in her body keeping her sluggish. Looking around she saw one familiar face of Rumlow. He saw her move and he smirked as he walked over and crouched down near her.
"Well rise and shine sweetheart. Glad you can join us."
"You go to hell." she rasped out.
She was met with a swift backhand to the jaw and she then spit out a little bit of blood.
"I've been wanting to do that for a while now." he said casually.
"You hit like my dead grandmother." she smirked back at him.
"Oh you want more?" he made to punch her this time but a voice stopped him.
"That is enough!"
The two of them looked up to see Pierce walk in as he looked at Mia. Rumlow stood as he backed up a few paces.
"The princess awakens." he said as he walked closer and looked down at her.
"Where am I?" Mia said breathing through her nose. The blood she felt caked on the side of her face attributing to being knocked out itched terribly and made the lights in the room sharp.
"I'm going to reprogram you." he said casually as he gestured to a machine in the room. Mia just noticed it as there was a chair and a machine that looked oddly similar to that of an MRI in her opinion. "If I can't get you to cooperate of your own free will well, I'll just have to make you. See while you were passed out I realized that what better tool to catch Captain Rogers than his girlfriend. Agent Rumlow filled me in on a few details."
Mia shot Rumlow a nasty look and the man just shrugged.
"Guess you picked the wrong guy huh?"
"Steve is a man. You're nothing more than an ant." she snarled at him. "And when I get my hands on you I'm gonna rip your tongue out through your ass and make you eat it."
"Prep her." Pierce said. Agents came up to her as they pulled her from the chair, chains still wrapped around her and forced her into the chair. She struggled but felt the mechanical restraints clamp down on her biceps and wrists. A man with a bow tie stepped forward as he reached out and plugged her nose making her gasp as he shoved a mouth guard into her mouth. She shook as she tried to free herself but no matter what her mental powers would not work. She then realized there was something around her throat...a collar. A neural inhibitor most like which was the same that Pierce had pinned to his jacket. "Your powers are useless Mia."
Her gaze was nothing short of murderous as they prepped the machine and it came to life. Mia felt the electricity as the unit then came up and clamped down on her head. She stared at Pierce, stared into his soul and knew that no matter what happened next she must not forget her promise.
Dont forget.
Protect.
Fight.
Don't forget.
Protect.
Fight.
Don't forget.
Protect.
Fight.
The machine shocked her and she bit down on the mouth guard as a scream erupted from her throat. Immense pain shot through every nerve in her body as another jolt of electricity wrecked through her sending her into a world of darkness. Deep into the bottom corners of her mind where a tiny light started to ignite. Until a full fledged flame burned within.
