"Good morning Daniel!" Solerah chirped happily as she saw him passing her

"Oh! Hey..." Daniel responded, trying to smile. Solerah frowned and tilted her head.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh god, you don't know. I can't be the one to tell you. I'm-I'm sorry agent!"

And just like that he ran past her leaving Solerah to look at his back in confusion.

"Tell me what...?"

She made her way through the base and discovered the same thing kept happening. People wouldn't look her in the eye, they'd run past her or they'd quickly excuse themselves.

"What is happening?" Solerah questioned as the seventh person she tried to talk to left her.

"Agent Red Wing!" She called out as she caught up to the high ranked agent. "What is going on? Why is everyone avoiding me?"

"Agent Wild Star. I need you to remain calm and come with me."

"Okaaay? What-what's happening?"

"Just come with me."

Solerah's stomach churned painfully. Something was wrong and not knowing was killing her. She followed him up to the medical bay, the heavy silence between them was making her uneasy but she couldn't bring herself to ask any further questions.

They entered the medical bay and she saw a small crowd of agents and a doctor. They all turned to face her when they entered the room.

"I-I'm so sorry. Director Redgrave, he's dead." The doctor said, sadness laced in his tone.

"what?" Solerah's eyes widened in shock as she moved forward, pushing her way past the small crowd. "No." Her eyes welled up with tears. "No no no no." She looked at his body on the bed, eyes closed and covered in blood. "This can't be happening..." She reached out and touched his cheek, flinching back at how cold it was.

"ALFIE!" Tears streamed down her face as collapsed herself onto his chest, clutching his shirt. "Nononono please A-Alfie no don't leave me! ALFIE!" Her body raked with sobs as she cried. The agents around her looked away, with pained faces.

The doctor carefully approached her and tried to gently pull her backwards. "I'm sorry."

"NO!" She screamed as she shoved the doctor away from her a little too roughly causing him to fall backwards as she went back to clinging to Alfred's body. "This isn't real. Please please this isn't real!" She knew she was overreacting, she knew that doctor was only trying to console her and she knew she was only clinging to a cold dead corpse but she couldn't bring herself to do anything else.

"What am I going to do without you Alfie I need you..."

She felt as though a thousand daggers were painfully twisting into her stomach.

"Wild Star..." Agent Red Wing approached her. "He's gone."

She took in several deep breaths and slowly raised herself of his body, taking in his form. She bent down one last time and placed her forehead against his, taking his hand in hers.

"Alfie... Shul parel moihim. Ar jaruk noisin vaati... Untetra ritray vrai, cormeum."

She stood up, took a deep shuttering breath and turned. "Excuse me." She nodded to everyone in the room and walked out. She was able to maintain a mostly calm exterior as she walked past people, some gave her knowing looks at her face and others looked confused as to why she was so upset. She ignored everyone as she made her way to her room.

She collapsed on her bed, she felt like a broken doll. She felt empty and hollow, like the only thing left inside of her was pain. She didn't know how to respond so she just laid on her bed.

l-l

After Bruce was told about Alfred's death he spent the next 2 days trying to coax Solerah out of her room, on the third day he finally asked to be given a keycard to get into her room.

"Solerah I'm coming in." He called out softly as he let himself in. He took a deep breath and made his way over to her, sitting on the edge of her bed. "Solerah?"

"Leave me alone." Her voice cracked, she sounded lifeless.

"I know you're hurt right now but Alfred wouldn't want you to be like this, have you even left to eat?" He nervously examined her, her cheeks looked slightly hollow. "You can't stay in here forever."

"Watch me..."

"Solerah come on." Bruce grasped onto her shoulder and she wretched away from him, sitting up violently.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"Solerah, its okay, I'm here for you now, you need to stop this." He tried reaching for her again but she smacked his hand away.

"NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Solerah I know how you feel. Let's just calm down and talk about this okay? We can even go get some ice cream. What you're doing isn't healthy."

"HOW DO YOU POSSIBLY KNOW WHAT I'M FEELING! ALFIE WAS MY FAMILY! WHAT DO YOU KNOW!?"

Bruce grabbed her shoulders as she tried to hit him.

"Because my mother died!"

Solerah stopped her assault and looked up at him, blinking rapidly to try and get rid of her tears.

"When I was a child my father killed my mother."

"Oh... Bruce..."

"Trust me Solerah I know how you feel. I shut myself off and I turned everyone away."

Bruce pulled Solerah close, tucking her into his chest and clutching her almost painfully tight.

"Facts and figures I'm good at, feelings and people not so much and that's because I isolated myself. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you end up how I did. Let me help you."

"Bruce... I wasn't there to save him. I feel like I ruin everything I touch and I don't want to ruin you."

"You can't ruin what's already broken."

"Maybe we're both too broken..."

"I would of agreed with you before I came to C.O.D.E.X but then something changed my opinion."

"What...?"

"You."

She was silent for a moment, before she finally held him back, tightly wrapping her arms around his stomach and cried into his chest. She screamed and wailed and sobbed and Bruce sat with her the entire time, holding her and stroking her hair and just try to whisper reassuring words to her.

After who knows how long she spent crying she finally calmed down enough to speak.

"Bruce...?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember when you said you barely knew anything about me?"

"Yes..." Bruce nodded and Solerah loosened her death grip around his waist and settled for clutching his shirt.

"I came from a very peaceful planet. It was a paradise really, but we were so stupid, so naive. I discovered something terrible one day and it changed me, so I left my home. I traveled across the stars and all over space. I did all sorts of stupid things because I was young and dumb.

I eventually became a bounty hunter. I... Grew to love the thrill, I seeked out the excitement and adventure. I learned how to fight and I became good at it. Really good at it. I use to be the best Bruce.

I met all sorts of people, some bad, some good, some indifferent. I made a lot of really good friends and a few powerful enemies but I never stayed in one place for too long. Never had a reason too.

I eventually joined a group of a lot of unsavoury people, I didn't even like them all that much but they provided me with what I wanted. More and more extreme bounties. I... I became someone I never intended to be... Someone bad. That's why I stayed on Earth. I left that life behind and never looked back."

"The past is the past Solerah. It doesn't matter who you were all I care about is who you are now." Bruce tried to console her, he was really just trying to absorb everything she was telling him.

She shook her head no as she smiled sadly.

"The reason I came to Earth in the first place was a bounty. I was chasing a dangerous being called a Skrull. I chased him all the way to this planet. Humans found us. RUPTURE found us. Skrull are an infiltration race. They can transform into anyone and apparently they had been infiltrating Earth for a long time. I still don't exactly know if they are here, I never really followed it up."

She let out a dry laugh.

"The Skrull was dead on impact. I won't say I wasn't glad that he died, he probably deserved it. Except I was stuck, I couldn't do anything. The Skrull had used a weapon that weakened me. My skin is very thick and dense, not a lot can cut me, sure I get hurt but it takes something strong to pierce my skin. Somehow the Skrull got the knowledge and access to the one thing that can really do damage to me. It burned me, cut me, I couldn't move, l felt too weak and RUPTURE took advantage of that.

They took me and the Skrull and they locked me up. I don't know how long, it was all very hazy but eventually they came back. Took me away again and the next thing I knew I was strapped to a table. I looked over and saw the Skrull was on one next to me. Or what was left of the Skrull. I was FREAKING out! It reminded me so much of that terrible thing that happened to me in the past. I wanted to escape, run, move, ANYTHING! But... I couldn't. I thought they would do the same too me."

She paused as she swallowed, memories flashing through her mind.

Please no! Not again!

"They made surgical tools that could cut me."

LET ME GO!

"I didn't understand English at the time, I had no idea what was happening. I was awake, the whole time. I felt the pain of what they were doing the whole time."

What are you doing to me? STOP!

"And then it was over. I had this implant."

She waved her wrist at him but when she moved to drop her arm Bruce grabbed it. He studied the small diamond imbedded in her wrist.

"I don't know how they did it but this implant contains Skrull DNA. It gave me their abilities, it gave me the ability to turn into this human form. It was so weird at first, being in a weak human body and loosing all my own strength and abilities. This body that can so easily be hurt. I'll never forget the first time I bled red instead of blue. It was so strange."

She pulled her hand away from Bruce.

"Then came the collar."

"The collar?" Bruce knitted his brows together with concern.

"Control collar. Sometimes I can still feel it buried in the back of my neck. I became their weapon. Their tool. I was aware of every single thing I did. I was screaming in my head to stop but I couldn't! I stole. I spied. I killed... So much... Eventually I was on a mission to track someone down and bring him back to RUPTURE. We fought savagely. He was like an animal but so was l back then. He even growled at me so I hissed back heh. It was strange, he could cut me. I hadn't known a metal on Earth that could.

During our fight he broke the collar. I was finally me again. He let me travel with him. That was my life for awhile. We just traveled town to town picking up odd jobs and running away from our pasts. One day he disappeared and I was alone again... Running from RUPTURE on my own.

I thought I was going to be captured again but then Alfie found me and I've been with C.O.D.E.X every since. Now that Alfie is... Dead... You're the only one who knows this story."

Solerah bust into sobs and anything else she said was incoherent as she covered her face. She and Bruce spent the rest of the night in silence. Solerah just trembling and crying and Bruce sat holding her and thinking about everything she had told him. He decided then and there he would never let her be alone ever again. He would always be there for her.