I have no idea what happened here, but I needed to wrap up this storyline and this is what I came up with. Hoping to be better soon, haha… but without further ado, here's this:
She had concocted a plan. She would go to her apartment to pick up her old phone, then head to Sally's house, figure out her schedule, pop by somewhere where other kids had her as their worker, record their horror stories of her (Sienna couldn't be the only one with a bad experience with her) and then go straight to the police station. After hearing all that from her and other kids, surely they would have to arrest Sally, or at least put her under investigation, and then she would finally be free. Well, free to another worker.
She was so excited about this plan, and was so sure it would work, she woke up at 3:30. She wrote a letter, not explaining her plan but saying that she would be back later, and opened up her window as much as she could. She was on the second floor, so she used the sheets to create a sort of rope and climbed down, surprised and glad that Friday hadn't mentioned anything yet.
Once on the ground, she ran for the forest, and then kept herself just outside of the line of sight of the road and anyone on it, and found her way into town. She used some of the cash she had taken from her room to get a bus, ran into her apartment, grabbed the food that had long since expired, threw it out, and grabbed her old phone, turning it on for the first time in years.
She had to plug it in to charge the battery a bit, but once she was sure it was working, she caught a cab and headed to Sally's house. Her car wasn't there, so she picked the lock and went inside. There, she found tons of incriminating evidence against Sally, so she took pictures of that, and also found information about where she would be that morning on her calendar.
She left the house, locking it back up, and caught another cab to the group home's address. She gave the taxi driver the last of her money, so she wondered how she'd get back, but decided on figuring that out later. Once she saw Sally's car in the driveway, all other worries fled her mind and she focused on the task at hand. She walked around to the kids she could hear in the back, listened for any adults, and hopped the fence.
"Who are you?" A girl, about 12, asked. "And why are you here?"
"My name is Sienna, and I'm here to help you. Who here has Sally Greenberg as their worker?" A few people raised their hands. "Who actually likes her?" They all put their hands down.
"Okay, well I want to get her fired. She's mine too, and I won't stand for that verbal abuse anymore. Can I record you guys; have you tell me what she's done to you? I'm going to report her to the police."
Everyone smiled at that, and all of Sally's clients, and even some people who had just been too close to her when she got mad, sat around her, and she recorded all of their testimonies. It was when a young girl named Sarah, age 8 and a half, was giving her testimony, that Sally and the group home caretaker walked out.
"She told me my mommy and daddy weren't coming back and no one would want me, but she lied, right? She lied. A nice family will want me some day-" Sarah was saying, but was cut off.
"What the hell are you doing here you little bitch?"
The caretaker of the home, who was admittedly better than any group home provider she had ever had, spoke up at that. "Sally, the children. Please use words everyone is allowed to repeat. But that being said, who are you? Why are you here? I'm going to call the police."
"You do that. I don't care. The cops and I are friendly, and I promise you I am not here to hurt your children. I am here to help you." Then she turned to Sarah, wanting to answer her question from before. "Yes, she lied to you. Don't worry."
Sally walked right up to her and slapped her across the face. Everyone gasped. Luckily, Sienna had quickly hidden her phone in her pocket when Sally came out, with the camera pointed outward, and the sound of the slap was definitely caught.
"How dare you do this? How dare you show up here. I should call your foster parents and have them come and fetch you, and then I will be able to go home and make sure you are immediately removed from their care, and sent straight back to juvi."
The caretaker was on her phone, and called out to the two women in a stand-off. "The police are on their way."
Sarah ran up and hit Sally in the leg, but, luckily for Sally, Sally didn't hit her back.
"You little brat." She said, instead. "You think violence is going to make you more desirable to a family? You are never ever going to be adopted."
"Listen, witch." Sienna said, stepping in between all the kids and Sally, pushing Sarah behind her protectively. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You are not meant to be working with children. You are a despicable, hateful human being-"
The caretaker cut her off, stepping between Sienna and Sally. "And you will never – ever – represent my babies again. I am going to report you, and everything you've said and done here. If you aren't jailed for this, you will at least never be allowed within 10 metres of any child in the foster system. You have my word. How dare you tell a child they won't be adopted? Who do you think you are? God?"
Sally didn't know what to say to this and just stuttered under the woman's piercing glare. Sienna wanted to cheer, but then the woman rounded on her and she gulped.
"And you! Who are you? And what gives you the right to trespass on my property?"
Sienna immediately went into defense mode. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't really thinking. I just saw on her calendar that Sally was here, so I knew the children she dealt with were, too. I was videotaping their testimonies as evidence to bring to the police to have her arrested. I couldn't take it anymore." She pulled out the phone in her pocket and flipped it to show the caretaker.
"Wait, how'd you see my calendar? Were you in my house?" Sally screeched, attempting to launch herself at Sienna. The caretaker kept herself in the middle of them though, and Sienna couldn't be touched by Sally.
"That can be resolved later." The caretaker said, and sternly looked at Sienna. "I know what you have been dealing with. I see it now. I can assure you that this woman will no longer be your worker, but you have trespassed on my property and endangered my children in doing so. I am sorry, but I will have to call your foster parents. I will not press charges against you when the police arrive, especially given the situation, but I would like to organize some off the record community service from you." Sienna nodded, thinking that that was fair. Except calling her foster parents would be hard though, since she didn't know their number.
"Oh, no." Sally said, coming around the worker to yell at both of them. She was already backed into a pretty tight corner, and didn't see a way out, and thought that she would take anyone she could along with her. "I am going to be pressing charges against her for breaking and entering into my home. She will go to jail and be locked up for a very long time. Her foster parents will not be able to do a thing for her. So you may as well press charges, too, since she will not be able to fulfill her community service duties to you."
"How her and I arrange our issue is our problem, not yours. You need'nt concern yourself with that. You'll have bigger fish to worry about, anyways." As if on cue, the doorbell rang, and the eldest kid was sent to answer it and bring the cop to the backyard.
"Oh good, Sienna Montgomery, the station's favourite flight risk." Officer Graham said as soon as he saw her, but he was smiling. "I didn't think you'd be running away for a while now, what with your new placement."
"It's not a runaway, Doug. It's more of a takedown." Sienna replied, smiling at him.
"Officer, she broke into my home, found out where I was going to be, and came here to threaten me!"
"Sienna is that true?" He asked, smile disappearing.
"Sort of…" Sienna said, looking down.
"Not entirely, officer. We haven't gotten the full story yet, but my impression is that she is here to get enough incriminating evidence against her social worker to have her arrested. I feel as though she has succeeded in this. I have been witness to enough, but she also has evidential video on her phone."
"Lemme see." He said to Sienna, holding out his hand. She knew him well enough, he was actually the one she had kicked in order to get away one time, that she felt comfortable walking up to him and just showing him the end of the video.
It was bad. Sally knew it was bad. She heard herself yelling, and knew she was done for. She looked like she wanted to run, but then Officer Graham said, "you're the social worker?" to which he got a nod from everyone around him, and just read her her rights as he cuffed her.
"Wait! I want her charged, too." Sally yelled, motioning towards Sienna. "She broke into my home!"
SM
Twenty minutes later, Sienna was cuffed an in the back of Officer Graham's patrol car. The caretaker, whose name was Debbie, said she would follow once she sent her kids to school, and promised Sienna over and over that she would be okay. She really was the kind of caretaker Sienna wished she had had all those years ago, fair and kind. She probably wouldn't be in the same situation if she did.
Officer Graham had called for another patrol car, which Sally was placed in, and he confiscated Sienna's phone as evidence, promising to give it back (to the teary eyed Sienna after hearing that one of the last presents her parents had given her was being taken away) once evidence was collected.
He drove her to the station, but spoke jovially with her the entire time. "So, how have you been?"
"Well, now that this is over with, and it looks like she's going away for good, I'm great!" Sienna replied happily, leaning forwards as far as the seatbelt would let her, to get closer to Officer Graham. "How's the wife?"
"Pregnant, actually. With twins."
"Oh really? Congratulations! If one's a girl, Sienna is a really great and unique name."
He laughed at that. "I'll keep that in mind." Then, he turned it back around on her. "Where have you been lately? It's been quite a while since we saw you last. Heard you ended up in a new foster home."
She nodded. "Yeah. They're different than most homes I've been in, haven't even been able to try to run away. Don't even know how I did this, though it probably blew my chances of that for quite a while now."
"Glad to hear they're actually keeping track of you, but are they good people?" He asked, knowing that he's returned her to some less than favourable homes, but wasn't able to do anything about it, since he had had no evidence.
Sienna wanted to laugh. He basically just asked her if the Avengers were good people. "I think so. Seem to like me enough. Called me family the other day…"
"Well that's awesome, Sienna! Do you think this may be a foster-to-adopt type of situation?"
Sienna would have done a spit take if she had been drinking anything. "No! I don't think so. I think they're just good people who want to help out. And besides, I don't want any more parents. When I'm 18, I will finally be on my own."
"But that's not a fun way to live." He said sadly.
"No, but it wasn't fun losing my parents when I was 12. This is easier. Can't lose more people this way."
He looked at me with sadness in his eyes before pulling into a Dairy Queen. "Dipped Cone?"
She guessed he was trying to make her feel better, and since she hadn't even had breakfast that morning, she happily agreed. No use arguing something he couldn't convince her to change her mind on.
When they got to the station, he began the process she knew too well, and wrote up the paperwork needed for the charges against her to be set up.
"So I'm going to need the number of the people I can contact, to have them come and get you. I don't think with the charges against Sally that yours are going to hold up, as what you did was likely warranted, and she's just a little too crazy to believe, anyways."
"Uh… I don't have it. Haven't had a reason to need it yet, and I only just got my phone back today. You may have it though."
"Why would I have it already?"
"Do the police not have the number to reach the Avengers?"
SM
Wanda awoke that morning to commotion, and then her door flying open.
"Did Sienna tell you where she was going?" Steve asked, entering her room, holding a note. She took it from him to figure out what he meant.
"No, I hadn't heard anything about this. I just stopped her yesterday from slamming her door, but we didn't talk much other than that."
Steve angrily took the note back, and then stormed out of the room. Wanda followed closely behind, running after him to catch up.
"Friday, I need the footage of her leaving and any information you have on where she went. And also I'd like to know why you didn't alert anyone that this was happening."
Friday put up the footage on the closest screen to Steve and said, "This is not a jail, Captain. Even the best foster homes in the world don't have something like me, and it is not fair on her to be constantly monitored. If you ask me where she is and I know, I will tell you. But I will not alert you to other things, unless she is putting her life at risk."
"And her climbing out a window isn't life threatening?"
"She seemed to have it under complete control."
Steve sighed. Wanda watched in awe at the loop of her friend making her bed sheet rope, using it to scale the building, and running into the forest.
"She's quite stealthy." Nat said, coming up behind them. "I'll give her that."
"I'll give her a whole lot more than that when I find her." Steve said angrily.
Wanda walked away then, a little intimidated by Steve's anger. On top of the worry she felt for her missing friend, she was worried about her no longer being missing, and having to deal with that.
She bumped in to Sam in the hallway. "You're up early." He said, eyebrows raised.
"You haven't heard? Sienna ran away." Wanda said, and watched his features turn dark. "You should talk to Steve. I'm going to call Clint. See if maybe he's heard anything, or if she turned up there for some reason."
SM
She wasn't at Clint's home, but he said he would come to the city to look for her if they needed him to.
"No, I think we're okay. I hear orders being barked out from people all around the compound, so I think we're going to go look for her. I'll keep you updated."
"Please do."
With that, she hung up the phone, and went to go investigate what the plan was.
"Oh good, Wanda, you're back. You're going to stay here and wait to see if she comes back. Pepper is on her way from the Tower to keep you company. Let us know the second you hear something." Tony said, looking up from his phone just long enough to acknowledge her.
"Why can't I come out and look with you?"
"We don't want to spark suspicion flying around, so we're all taking separate cars. You can't drive, so you can't come."
"But I can look out the passenger side window!" She said, and they all considered it.
"Okay, fine. That's a better plan anyway. Everyone will split into teams of two, and Friday can alert us if anything happens here. Wanda you're with Nat, Vision you're with Rhodey. Sam, you're with me. Pepper will be with Tony when she gets here."
Everyone nodded their agreement and headed out, or waited for their partner to arrive, within thirty minutes.
Nat drove around a bit, keeping half her attention on the road and the other half on the sides, looking for evidence.
"Stop!" Wanda yelled, and pointed. Nat pulled over and Wanda went to investigate the footprints she saw. "She was here. I'm sure of it. If we can follow this trail, we can figure out where she went."
Nat pointed down the street. "Probably went to the bus station just over there."
"She could have gone anywhere, then." Wanda said sadly, discouraged.
"Along the bus route. We can follow the next one and see where it goes. Maybe she's along its path.
Wanda nodded, but couldn't help but think that she could have gotten off and taken any number of other modes of transportation to her destination.
They followed the bus for a couple of hours before the phone rang.
"Hello?" Nat answered, speaking into the Bluetooth.
"Friday let us know that there was a voicemail on the receiver. Police picked her up, we're going to get her now. Steve says we shouldn't cause a big commotion and for you guys to wait at home." Sam said into the receiver.
"Is she okay?" Wanda asked.
"I don't know. Seemed fine in the message, but we don't have any part of the story yet." Sam answered. "We'll be sure to get to the bottom of it when we get home at the very least."
That seemed to Wanda to be a play on words. They would likely be getting to the bottom of two things, and Wanda feared for her friend because she knew that one bottom would be feeling the heat very soon.
SM
"Well, yes, we do. Somewhere." Officer Graham said, but didn't move to find it right away. "But… they're your foster parents?"
"I fainted when they told me they wanted to be. Mind you, I was severely lacking in any nutrients, so that may have been the reason why."
"Superheroes. Fostering. Huh." Officer Graham said, but then moved to look for the number. He'd seen weirder things.
When he found it, he wrote it down and handed Sienna the phone and number. "Your one phone call, my dear."
She dialed the number into the phone, and got the answering machine. "I think they're out saving the world or something. They're not at home. Oh wait, I'm getting the answering machine. She waited for Friday to accept the collect call, and then spoke clearly, "hey guys, It's Sienna. Good news, Sally is in jail. Bad news, so am I. Long story, but you're going to laugh when you hear it. Anyways, please come get me."
She left the address to the station, then hung up.
"I don't think superheroes laugh when their charges get arrested." Officer Graham told her seriously.
"A girl can dream. Maybe, they'll be gone for so long, they'll come back and be so worried they left me in here for so long that they'll come and get me and just be happy!"
"Or if they're as good of foster parents as you say they are, they're out looking for you right now and will be here as soon as they can to collect you, and be pretty mad about it."
"That's a scenario I don't want to think about because then I'll be in a whole lot more trouble than I can care to admit. I haven't lived with them two months, and already I've been grounded a week."
"Well I can only imagine what you did to deserve that versus what happened today. Maybe they'll go easy on you. You should claim you were under extreme duress."
"Good plan." Sienna said, glad to see she had a cop seemingly on her side.
He put her in a holding cell and went back to his desk, filling out paperwork as he talked to her.
"Where's Sally?" She asked, looking around. She was glad she wasn't in here with her, but she didn't see her in the other holding cell.
"We had to take her to a different location, because of the circumstances." Officer Graham said, "it is very likely you won't see her until a trial, and your testimonies on your phone may be enough to prevent even that."
Just then, another officer came in the back, bringing Steve and Sam along with him. Both of them wearing the scariest expression Sienna had ever seen on either of them.
She refused to be the one to break the silence. She had no idea what to say, and really, what could she say?
"I'm her foster father." Steve said, turning to Officer Graham. "Steve Rogers, this is another of her caretakers, Sam Wilson."
"It's great to meet you, sir." Sienna had to hold in her laughter at Officer Graham's bewildered face. It wasn't hard, though, as Sam hadn't turned to him and was still staring her down. "We should be able to put in the paperwork to get her processed as quickly as possible, and I believe bail should be set soon.
"Bail? What for?" Sam asked, finally taking his eyes off Sienna to look at Graham.
"Uh, well…" He clearly didn't want to be the one to break the news. "Breaking and entering."
"WHAT?!" Steve said, looking at Sienna and stalking closer to the cell. She backed away.
"Uh, Officer Graham. I'd like to confess to murder. I don't know who, don't know how it happened, but it did. I'm not sorry I did it, either." She kept backing up as she spoke because even though Steve couldn't reach her anymore, everything she said was visibly making him angrier. Unfortunately for her, she just couldn't stop. "Really, anything that would make sure bail is taken away."
"Sienna, stop." Sam said, coming up from behind Steve. "Don't make this worse for yourself than it already is."
Officer Graham came up to the cell then. "Gentlemen, do you mind giving Ms. Montgomery and I some space? I need to speak with her in private."
Steve gave her a shooting glare before saying, "yeah, sure. Come on, Sam. I need to find some coffee."
"There's some in the break room! I'm sure another officer will let you have some!" Officer Graham called out as they left the back area. Then he turned back to her. "You really like digging yourself into a hole, don't you?"
"You want to tell me that if Capitan America came up to you, giving you the look that says you're in the most amount of trouble you've ever been in, you wouldn't do anything to try and get away?"
"No, I would be spewing apologies and trying to seem as innocent as possible." Officer Graham said, crossing his arms over his chest. "And never would I ever admit to murder. Because if it were anyone else in this precinct except for me, they would have had to believe you, and take you in. Fortunately for you, I know you were not being serious, and will not have to charge you with murder."
"I panicked." She said meekly, knowing that her reaction was not the best one in the world, but she couldn't help it.
"I know you did. But Sienna, we just talked about this. You gave me the impression that they were good people. And I know being grounded isn't fun, but there are worse things. Unless, you were lying? Do you not feel safe with them?" Officer Graham asked, concerned.
"No! That's not it. I feel totally safe with them. But they do more than just ground people and I'm a little worried about that. Plus, you saw the way the two of them reacted, think of how it would be with all of them. I can't handle that many people being mad."
"Well, you should have thought about that before breaking and entering into Sally's home. But what do they do that have you worried? I can help you if you give me enough cause to worry and file a complaint."
"It's nothing I want to share. Nothing too bad, in all honesty. Just makes sitting painful for a bit."
She could see that he was struggling not to smile at that.
"My dad would have had the same reaction, if he had to pick me up in jail at sixteen for what you did." He said, "and I get it, it's not the most welcome reaction, and to be honest I'm a little surprised, but that's a whole other issue, but you can't just opt to stay in here. Don't you think the consequences will be worse once you get out?"
"I guess…"
"So wouldn't it be better to just get it over with?"
"Well, no…"
He just laughed at her, then went back to his desk. "Good news! Bail has been set for $10. Given the situation, it looks like they think there was just cause. I'll call your guardians back in."
"Whoopie." Sienna muttered, going to sit against the far bed, but try to look remorseful for when Steve and Sam came back in.
They didn't make her wait long, and Officer Graham was filling them in on the whole situation.
"So I showed up at the house, and lo and behold, Sienna is there. Some pleasantries were exchanged and then she showed me the video she took of her testimony and the children's. Had to bring her in because Sally was pressing charges, but that's it, really. She can be out on a $10 bail, and you probably won't hear from us about that again, Officer Geller is pretty convincing when she wants to be, and I'm pretty sure the charges will be dropped before you get back home."
Steve reached into his pocket. "Here's a $10. Can we attach it to her file, and go home?"
"That's not generally how we do it, but since it's so low, sure." Officer Graham said, accepting the money and attaching it to a clipboard. "I'm just going to sign some release papers, and you'll have to sign them too as legal guardian, and then she's free to go."
All too soon in Sienna's opinion, everything was set, and Officer Graham was opening the cell and taking off the cuffs.
"Come on Sienna," Steve said, motioning her forward, not outwardly showing any anger. She felt it was better to test him further, especially now that there was no lock in between her and him. She walked out, looking at the floor.
"'M sorry, Steve, Sam." She said mumbling.
She heard a quiet pfft from Sam, but was close enough to Steve to see him quiet anything else. "Apologize to Officer Graham, too, Sienna."
"Sorry Graham. I promise to stay away from here from now on."
"Hey don't worry about that, kid. You can come back any time you want, but on a friendlier visit, okay? Just come say hi. Leave on your own." She looked up at him and he smiled at her.
She gave him a crooked smile and shook his hand. Steve put his on her shoulder.
"I think it's time we leave. The others are probably pretty worried, and I just want to get you home."
They started walking out, Sam in front, Sienna beside Steve, who was basically guiding her with his hand. They were just getting to the front door when Debbie walked up.
'Perfect.' Sienna thought, 'just what I needed.'
"Oh good, honey, you're getting out." Debbie said, coming up and hugging her. "I was worried with that mean old witch Sally pressing charges."
"Yeah, I'm okay. My foster father and foster… uncle?" Sienna realized she had no idea who Sam was in this relationship, "came to get me."
"Hi, I'm Steve Rogers. Sienna's foster father, and this is Sam Wilson." Both Steve and Sam shook her hand. "And you are?"
'Please don't say it.' Sienna prayed, but knew that it was no use. Debbie seemed nice, but not one to leave out critical information.
"I'm Debbie, the foster parent of the children she interviewed today. My husband just got home, so I was able to come over to check on Sienna." Maybe Sienna was wrong.
"Well, thank you, but we really should be getting home, now."
"Actually, I was hoping to have a word with you." Oh, there it goes. "When I came out of my house this morning, Sienna here was in my backyard, without permission. I didn't lay trespassing charges on her, since I quickly found out the situation, but I do not believe that wrongdoings should go without punishment. I was thinking of talking with you about some mandatory volunteer hours, cleaning up the parks, public places, with my supervision, of course, so you wouldn't have to take your time to do it."
Steve's hand had gotten considerably tighter on her shoulder as she spoke, and Sienna winced. The only good part about the day was Sally getting her just desserts.
"Of course." Steve said, and pushed Sienna towards Sam. "I'll give you my number, and we can set up a schedule." Turning to Sienna, he said, "go wait in the car with Sam while I talk with Debbie, okay?"
It wasn't a question. "Okay. Thanks for coming to check on me, Debbie. I'll see you soon, I guess."
"See you sweetie." She said, and then dove into scheduling with Steve.
"Come on, Sienna." Sam said, and that's when Sienna knew he was mad. Not calling her by the nickname she gave her meant, she was sure, bad things. Despite the fact that she hadn't liked it at first, she would have given anything for it now.
She got in the backseat while he got in the passenger's side.
"Now, do you want to tell me why in the hell you would go and do that explicitly after I told you we'd handle it? Or why you thought breaking the law was the way to go?" He turned to her. She looked down. "Nuh-uh, little girl. You're going to look at me while I'm talking to you.
She looked up at him, and regretting not waiting like he'd said. His eyes were full of disappointment and anger, and she wasn't sure what was worse.
"I don't know, okay? I guess I just didn't want her out there for one more second ruining other children's lives. I kind of was acting on a really strange impulse that my brain doesn't want to give me reasons for anymore."
"Yeah, well if that's the answer you give Steve, you can almost guarantee that that won't fly. So your brain better find a better reason between now and then."
Was he helping her? She didn't know, but she'd like to believe that was advice coming from a place of love, rather than hatred.
"Are you mad at me, too? Is everyone?" Sienna asked, worriedly.
"I can't speak for everyone, but yeah, I am. I expected more from you, Sienna. I really did. You want to live on your own, but your actions today were so childish, I don't know how you think you could pull it off." He said, bluntly. She started crying.
"Are- are you going to punish me, too?" She asked, knowing Steve punishing her wouldn't be an if but a when.
He sighed. "I don't know yet, Tink." That one nickname raised her spirits. He had calmed down a bit, and if he could, so could the others. "We'll figure it out."
All she could do was nod her head.
How could this brilliant plan of hers backfire so widly?