Hey guys, I'm sorry for the late update. I had a busy weekend, and I couldn't get it up in time. Here's the new chapter. I hope you guys like it, and as always I don't own my Marvel.
"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss." This is the first thing we hear Stark say as we enter the lab where both of the scientists and the director are having a discussion. "What is PHASE 2?"
At that moment, Steve decides to interrupt their conversation by dropping the Hydra weapon on the table stating, "PHASE 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."
To say Steve is upset would be an understatement. Although, Fury does a wonderful job masking his face with an unimpressed expression. I'm not surprised since he's the King of spies. If anything, I'm willing to bet money he's going to try to lie his way out of this mess.
"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're-"
"I'm sorry, Nick." Stark interrupts the man showing us S.H.I.E.L.D. files he recently hacked. On the screen is Phase 2 and the schematics that go along with the Hydra weapons we recently discovered. "What were you lying about?"
"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit," Steve adds angrily.
"Did you have something to do with this?" Fury asked all of a sudden. I'm not expecting him to ask me a question so I didn't respond right away. Quickly, I gather myself before the director suspects me of being the instigator.
"...What? Oh, you mean finding the Hydra weapon. Well, yeah, I'm the one who found it. I had no clue it's a part of Phase 2, but I do know Hydra used the Cube to power their weapons. I mean it's all over the files for Captain America and the cube itself," I replied calmly albeit a bit hesitantly. I don't understand why he's so angry with me it's not like I did something wrong. It's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fault for doing something shady behind everyone's back.
"Not what I meant. What I mean is, did you instigate this whole situation?"
"No, of course not. I'm kind of insulted you'd think I would. By the way, what could I possibly gain by starting a fight?"
"Being thrown back in prison," Fury shot back. "Not having to deal with any of this."
"Wow, no faith in me whatsoever, huh Fury? Although does sound great, you might want to remember we made a deal. I'll help S.H.I.E.L.D until Clint is found, I gave you my word. Now, I can't do that if I'm in prison, so no, I didn't start this feeling of distrust. All of that is on you, and I'm not surprised it's come down to this. You aren't a very trustworthy man, you know," I explain to the irritated pirate. Honestly, I'm trying my best not to sound rude which is more difficult than I thought it would be. Fury doesn't say a word as he continues to watch me. My guess is he still doesn't believe a word I said. "Look, Steve asked me a simple question which led to me helping him find these weapons, and now we're confronting you about it."
"He asked you a question? Despite his numerous options, he chose you?"
"Yes, as difficult as it may be to believe, he asked me. Not you, an incredibly smart move on his part because who in their right mind would ask the master of spies a question? All you do is lie, cheat, and steal. You're a dishonest man who will do anything to get what he wants."
"What was his question?"
"I'm done explaining my side of the story to you! Quit dodging the question, Fury! Explain to us what the heck is Phase 2, what it has to do with Hydra! Out of all the bad guys out there you decide to bring back Hydra weapons?! As if this world isn't bad enough, you want to add this to the mix. Steve did everything he could back in the 40s to put an end to the organization, but I guess you people never learn," I hissed at the man. At this point, I'm furious with this man and his idiotic plans. It makes me wonder if S.H.I.E.L.D. should have the Tesseract. Is that thing safe with anyone or are we doomed to destroy ourselves with its great power?
"What was the question, Rodriguez?"
"The question was if she trusted S.H.I.E.L.D. or not, and now I understand why she doesn't," Steve spoke up for me. Clearly, is Steve fed up with Fury for dodging the questions about Phase 2. "Now, explain to us what the hell is going on."
Instead of answering our questions, Fury decides to ask another one of his own. "Did she tell you why she doesn't trust us, or did she just tell you not to?"
"She told me you kept important information from her, and in the end, it led to the loss of life which could have been avoided if you had just told her the truth."
"You see that's not entirely true-"
"SHUT UP!" I cut Fury off before he could say anything else about that day. My eyes begin to glow a menacing pink from the built-up frustration. "It was your fault what happened that day so don't try to say otherwise! If you hadn't kept so many secrets from us none of that would have happened! By the way, I know you think you're slick by redirecting everyone's attention, but I know you so quit stalling! What the hell is Phase 2?"
Not a sound can be heard inside the room as everyone remained silent. The tension in the room is so thick you can cut it with a knife. What's worse is the attention in the room which was solely focused on Phase 2, is now split. Now the three men who have no clue how I came to be are curious about my past. However, I can't allow them to find out... I'm not ready to tell them, or anyone, about what happened. Now we're all waiting to see who will be the first to speak when Thor and Romanoff walk into the room.
Banner automatically questions Romanoff once he sees her, "Did you know about this?"
She ignores his question with a statement of her own, "You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor."
"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."
"Loki's manipulating you."
"And you've been doing what exactly?"
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy."
As I watch the two go back and forth, all I can do is stare in shock. I've never seen Banner get like this before, and it's so unnerving to watch him get angrier with each passing second. Is this really the same man who stood awkwardly to the side when I first met him? I shouldn't be surprised, but I am as I stare in amazement at the man.
"I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction," Banner finally said to the whole group.
"Because of him." Fury told us without missing a beat as he points to Thor. I guess the alien prince is just as shocked by the new direction the conversation is going in.
"Me?"
"Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly and hilariously, out-gunned."
"My people want nothing but peace with your planet."
"Really? Your people want peace...? Because last time I checked, your diva of a brother came to our planet wanting to enslave the human race. I'm sorry but on Earth, that's not called peace. Hate to burst your bubble Crocodile Dundee, but those are the facts," I snark at him. I hear Stark snort from somewhere in the lab, failing to contain himself. Honestly, who else would be laughing at a time like this other than him?
"I grow tired of your insolence child. How dare you speak to me in such a manner. You remind me of the one you call Stark, disrespectful to those around you with little care of how you treat them. I also have no idea what you two keep calling me," Thor said, taking a step forward. As soon as he does Steve slightly positions himself between us as does Fury.
"Sorry Princesa, but why in the world would I care about how I treat a thot like you? Also, did you notice you didn't even try to deny what I said, meaning I'm right!"
Before Thor can reply Fury steps back in, "Whether you're right or not, Rodriguez, the main issue is Thor and his people aren't the only ones out there, are you?" The end of that question being directed to Thor, "And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled."
"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve questioned the director.
"See now that's why I don't like working for you people," I point out to the director. "You guys want all of the power for yourselves. You aren't willing to give an inch to the rest of us. You say it's for our own protection, but that's a lie. You just want everyone to do as you say. If we refuse to help you then we either get imprisoned or we die."
"It's not like that, Rodriguez. All of you are misunderstanding our work with the tesseract-"
Thor interrupts Fury to get his point across. "Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."
"A higher form?!" Steve and I said at the same time. This can't be true, how can something like this be true? Earth can't even handle the wars going on at the moment, let alone an intergalactic feud.
"You forced our hand," Fury tried to explain. "We had to come up with something."
"Nuclear deterrent! 'Cause that always calms everything right down," Stark said sarcastically from where he's standing.
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"
Dang, Fury had him there.
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep," Steve added.
Stark jumps into the argument surprised both the Director and Steve are teaming up against him. "Wait-Wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?"
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?"
I don't know where this petty side of Steve came from, but I like it. He's just spiling all the facts!
"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor states like a disappointed mother to her child.
"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury inquires.
"I am your champion."
"Woah, who in the world told you you're our champion?" I ask Thor.
"Asgard has always defended your people from harm."
"Really, because I don't see how that's true when so much turmoil and destruction is happening because of your people. Do you see a trend here? Because if you don't then you're a moron!"
"Enough child! I am your Champion and I would never cause your people any pain or suffering. Have some faith, there is no need to mistrust me."
"Please, don't treat me like I'm some kind of idiot. You destroyed a town, you're homicidal brother is causing destruction, and you keep referring to yourself as if you are above us like some god. Guess what, sweetie, you aren't! What? Do you think you're more evolved than us? Are we animals to you? If anything you're a threat to us and there is no reason to trust you or your people. As a human, I'm going to speak for man-kind when I tell you to get the hell off our planet. We want nothing to do with you or your psychotic brother. After we kill him we'll send you his remains in a gift box if you like. We, Humans, are considerate like that."
"Rodriguez, that's enough."
"Or what Fury? Gonna throw me in a cell? Ha, what a joke! Haven't you noticed that there is nothing you people can threaten me with?"
"Out of everyone, I think pinky over there needs to be watched night and day," Tony huffs under his breath, but I still heard him.
"Why, in the world would she need to be watched?" Steve asked angrily.
"Are you people really that naïve? S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats." Romanoff interrupts.
"Is Captain America on the threat poll?" Banner asked with a great amount of disbelief and amusement.
"We all are," Romanoff told him as if she was explaining herself to a child. It's a bit odd to watch considering Dr. Banner is a genius.
"That's not your concern doctor," Fury tells Banner.
"You're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?" Stark quipped at Steve.
"I swear, Stark, one more crack." Steve threatens.
"Verbal threat! I feel threaten!"
"Show some respect!"
"Respect what!"
"SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!" I yelled gaining the entire group's attention. "You're all acting like children, which is surprising since all of you are supposed to be adults!"
"Look who's talking it's Miss Congeniality."
"Is that all you got, Stark? Are you having some performance issues? Wouldn't be surprised considering how old you are."
"Watch it, kid, I'm not the one who's acting like she's the biggest and baddest person in the room, you are." He stated as he points a finger at me.
"Yeah, you're right Stark. That's exactly how I'm acting, isn't it? Do you wanna know why I act this way? I act this way because I know I can win in a fight against any of you. I don't care if I'm fighting Thor, The Hulk, or all of S.H.I.E.L.D. because I'll always defeat my opponent even if it means I have to kill them. I act this way because it's the only choice I have considering this world won't let me live in peace otherwise. I act this way because the world never showed me an inch of mercy in the past, so I refuse to do the same for others. Why should I show mercy for the weak?" I snarled at him as I took a step in his direction not realizing that my eyes were once again glowing. "While you were fed with a silver spoon your entire life I had to fight for the scraps only to give them away in the end instead of keeping them for myself. I act this way because you people made me this way without my permission as you strapped me down to a table while I screamed. I am who I am because the world made me this way and now that I repulse you people, you choose to shun me. Excuse me if I act exactly how the world raised me to be, a weapon without mercy for the weak pathetic scum of this planet!"
Looking into Stark's eyes I notice his fear, so I try to gather myself before I create a bigger scene. It's bad enough I allowed so much information to slip past my lips, but there's no reason I should add on to it. I just couldn't help it. I'm so angry, and tired. This weight I feel on my shoulders only continues to push me down as the days go by and this mission isn't helping. I want to be done with this. Why can't I escape from this Hell? No one wants me here, so why am I here?
"You need to learn to control yourself, Rodriguez," Fury told me.
"You speak of control, yet you court chaos!" Thor yells at the Director.
"It's their MO, isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're- we're a time bomb," Banner told us in the end, and at this point, I can't help but agree with him. This team was meant to come apart from the beginning.
"You need to step away," Fury reminds him.
"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked the group. This man must be an idiot to believe an out-of-control Banner is what anyone needs? Luckily for me, Steve has an answer for that, or at least I thought he did.
"You know damn well why! Back off!"
Yeah, very eloquent of you Steve, you're doing great. I thought to myself as I mentally smack myself.
"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me," Stark said, trying to provoke the older man. Honestly, the more Stark speaks, the worse this situation becomes.
"Yeah, a big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."
Well, he's not wrong.
"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."
"I think I would just cut the wire," The brunette quipped back at the blond.
Steve looks at all of us before looking back at Stark saying, "Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."
"A hero, like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."
Steve only smirks at Stark, taking another step closer to him. I know it's about to get ugly as the two men begin to size up each other. If someone doesn't stop them now this is going to end up in an all-out fight.
"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds."
"You people are so petty, and tiny," Thor said out of nowhere.
"You know what Thor, you may be thicker than a piece of steak, but I'm pretty sure you're just as petty as any single one of us," I yelled at him. I completely forgot about stopping Stark and Steve as my focus is now on Thor. All I feel like doing is fighting Thor myself.
"Ah yes, coming from the child who was never taught any manners."
I'm about this close to smacking Thor upside his stupid head. One more remark and I swear I'm going to explode. I've never met anyone who has gotten under my skin in such a short amount of time.
"Yeah, this is a team," Bruce said sarcastically.
"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-"
"Where? You rented my room," Bruce told Fury. "Plus, aren't you asking the wrong person to escort me? Isn't the kid my handler?"
I immediately bow my head in shame at the comment, "Man, I knew he was gonna figure it out."
"Wait, you mean to tell me you already know about this, and you chose not to tell anyone you're simply here to put the doctor down?" Steve asked me, and I can hear the confusion in his voice as he spoke. Worse than that, I can hear his distrust growing with every word that leaves his mouth. "Are you waiting to take down everyone else here as well?"
"What? NO, of course not! It's not like that!
"Seems like the kid isn't as innocent as you thought," Stark said from beside Steve.
When I look back at Steve, his eyes cloud with distrust and betrayal. Before I even have the chance to fix the situation I realize it's too late. However, I still want to salvage the faith he placed in me. "No, Steve it's not what you think."
"Then what is this? You said not to trust anyone! You said no one would ever trust you, and now I understand why you said that."
I can't believe my own words came back to haunt me like this. Before I can even try to explain myself, Fury gives me a look before directing his attention towards Banner.
"Rodriguez was only going to help us should you lose control, and the cell is just-"
"IN CASE YOU NEED TO KILL ME. BUT YOU CAN'T, I KNOW, I TRIED!"
The room goes completely silent. Even I'm shaken by what Banner had said. A part of myself even feels for the guy. I mean, he sounds just like me whenever I begging for everything to end. So this is how I sound to others. It's sad... no... there aren't any words that can adequately describe this.
"I got low. I didn't see an end so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show, and put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"
Everyone at this point is watching Dr. Banner, and if one pays close attention to each person in the room, they would notice each of us reach for a weapon or tense up, ready to fight. I didn't think we could push Banner to the point he would grab the scepter to use it against us, but I should have known better. We stand in silence, waiting to see who would be the first to make a move. It's Steve who finally breaks the silence.
"Doctor Banner, put down the scepter," he orders calmly, but the authority in his voice is ever-present.
It's at this moment I realize Dr. Banner isn't aware he grabbed the scepter. The scientist looks down at his hand as if it had betrayed him. I wonder if his instincts kicked in which made him grab the scepter? Similar to a fight or flight situation. Considering he has the Hulk within him it may be possible, however, it could be something else. The scepter could have called to him in his state of rage, beckoning the doctor to use it. Alien technology, right? It's not like we understand this weapon. Like most things in life, it's an unknown mysterious object. In any case, it doesn't help our situation in the slightest. Thankfully a monitor begins to go off a few seconds later.
"Got it," Fury states, so I can only assume they found the Tesseract.
"Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my party trick after all," Banner told us as he moves to check the computer.
"You located the Tesseract?" Thor automatically asked the doctor.
"I can get there faster," Tony stated, trying to get sent out into the field to retrieve it.
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it."
"And apparently your people shouldn't be trusted either," I point out to him as I walk towards Thor. "It needs to stay out of everyone's reach."
"You're not going alone!" I hear Steve yell from behind me. When I turn back around, Steve is stopping Stark from going off alone only to have his hand slapped away.
"You gonna stop me?" Stark said, stepping up to Steve. When he said this all I could think is this is not the time nor place to fight. We just found the cube! We shouldn't be fighting over it since we need to grab the Tesseract before Thor does... Okay, so maybe I'm being a bit of a hypocrite, but who cares!
"Put on the suit, let's find out."
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."
"Put on the suit."
"Stop arguing-" I'm cut off as I get sent flying in a matter of seconds. I'm not sure what happened, and at first, I thought maybe Thor may have hit me, but as I sit back up I allow my mind the chance to catch up to the present. The entire lab has been blown apart. We've been bombed?! The team... I can't see a single one of them. The bomb must have thrown everyone in different directions. I continue to look around only to find Fury who's been knocked unconscious beside me. Gently, I shake the man in order to wake him.
"Fury, are you alright? Fury, answer me!"
"Ugh… Rodriguez, what happened?"
"We were hit by, what I assume, was a bomb, so you need to get up."
Fury nods his head and immediately reaches for his comm to get in contact with Hill. Once he gets through to Hill, his second-in-command relays all of the information she has to him. The explosion was aimed at engine three which means only 3 engines are left in play. If one more gets destroyed the helicarrier will fall from the sky and nothing can stop it from crashing. Stark and Steve are on their way to engine three to make repairs to prevent the worse from happening, and Romanoff said she and Banner are fine.
"Okay, so that only leaves Thor unaccounted for. He's strong, so I'm not worried about him, but what about us, Fury? What do we do?"
"I need to get back to the bridge. I can't do anything from here and we might need your help at the control center."
"Alright, stay behind me, I'll clear the way."
Seeing as there isn't any time to waste we rush out of the lab and into the corridor. The entire journey to the bridge I lead it at a run, and if any enemy forces came across us I'm quick to eliminate them by either sending a burst of radiation at them or grabbing the person and throwing them against the wall. Each time their body would sound with a satisfying thud indicating they would never get up again. Within no time we arrive at the bridge and Fury begins to make rapid-fire commands trying his best to get everything back in order. I'm not sure what to do at the moment, so instead of getting in the way of someone, I stand to the side by a metal railing waiting for instruction on what to do next. It's not like I'm trained to handle things like this. To be honest, I don't have any type of training. I just throw my weight around hoping for the best. I'm probably considered the worst hero out here since I never have a clue what I'm doing. My whole life is just me winging it while praying for the best. I notice Hill walking past me, and I move closer to the railing so I won't get in her way. A second later, Hill suddenly yells about a grenade. Before I can fully process what she said, my body is already moving on its own. Like an out-of-body experience, or a dream where you watch your body move without your say. One minute, I'm standing to the side to avoid getting in the way, and the next, I'm grabbing Agent Hill. I hold her close to me as we're sent flying due to the bomb. I do my best to angle my body so not only will I get the brunt of the blast, but I also take the impact when we hit the ground. What possessed me to save this woman I'll never know. I look at Hill who's still in my arms in a protective embrace as I ask her, "Are you okay?"
She doesn't respond as she quickly gets up taking out her gun and shooting one of the armed men responsible for the grenade, in the head. "Yeah, I think I'm okay."
"I would assume so since you just killed someone without trying!" I yelled back at her.
"Enough talking, more fighting," Fury yelled at me.
After that, it was a bit of a blur considering more of Loki's men came in to fight us. I move forward to fight them with Hill and Fury not too far behind me acting as backup. I have to hand it to us, we're a pretty good team. I take the lead in crushing our enemies while they take out anyone who tries to sneak past me. Together we're able to force them back to the corridor. If I could I would follow the enemy, but I don't want to risk the chance of someone getting past me, so I stay in my position. If even one of those armed thugs manages to escape my grasp they might make it to the controls and send the Hellicarrier to the ground. I can't risk a possibility like that happening when too many lives are at stake. However, as I shoot down another enemy I hear the intercom state that Thor and the Hulk are fighting on research-level four. Two and three are gone due to the intensity of their fight.
So that's where Thor went... but why is he fighting the Hulk? Did the doctor lose control, or did he never have it in the first place? I thought to myself, completely flabbergasted by the situation.
"Sir, the Hulk will tear this place apart!"
"Hill's right, Fury! We have to put an end to this before it's too late," I call out to him. I've read the reports on the Hulk and if anything I'm sure the stories about that beast are watered down. Someone needs to go over there and end the fight before it escalates any further.
"What do you suggest?" Fury inquires.
"Don't ask stupid questions, Fury. You had me come here for a reason, and now it's time I follow through with that plan. Do you trust me?"
"Be careful," He tells me, and after that, I leave to deal with the Hulk. I fly as fast as I can to research-level four hoping time is on my side.
When I arrive at the scene I barely have enough time to duck as Thor is sent flying over my head. I look back to check if he's okay before analyzing the situation in front of me, debating what I should do. The Hulk is currently tearing the room apart in a fit of crazed rage. I can't bring him back to the glass cage Fury has for him because Loki is there. Even if Loki wasn't there I doubt I'll be able to bring him there without a huge fight ensuing. I'll have to scrap the idea altogether then. Still, if I leave him here he'll continue to tear everything apart or try to kill anything that moves. There's only one option left which is a pretty crappy one, to begin with. I don't know if it'll work, but it's worth a shot. In any case, I pray I'm making the right choice.
"I did not expect him to be this strong," Thor states as we warily watch the green beast slowly approach us. Looking at the Hulk come closer to us reminds me of a Gorilla getting ready to charge.
"Don't worry about him. You have another job, Prince Charming," I inform Thor as quietly as I can so I don't agitate the Hulk any further. The Hulk is like a cornered animal when you think about it. You need to be very careful around him and respect his space if don't want him to kill you. When an animal is cornered that's when it's the most lethal, or so I heard.
"And what is that?"
"There are people here to free your brother, stop them."
"What about you?"
"Don't worry about me either, I got this. You just worry about your brother. I'm trusting you to handle the situation," I whisper under my breath. We look away from the Hulk for a split second, coming to an agreement before everything went to hell.
The Hulk roars and I do the only thing any sane person would do. I fly straight to the green beast and tackle him with enough force to send both of us sailing through the reinforced windows. Yeah, it sounds just as painful as anyone can imagine for a 148-pound 5'6 girl to tackle a monster built like a boulder. I try to put some distance between us and the Helicarrier when he starts to punch me which is stupid since we're thousands of feet in the air, and I'm the only one who can fly. Finally, I have enough, so I grab him by the hand and throw him up into the air. When he comes falling back down I kick him in the chest, sending him across the sky. We're in the air so I'm in my element. I know he can't beat me or at least that's what I hoping for, but it seems even in the air he can land a few good hits as I throw him around trying to knock him out. If only he could stay still long enough for me to knock him unconscious it would all be over. Then I could fly us back to the helicarrier and make sure everyone else is okay, but as the fight continues I know that won't be the case. Why can't the world make it easy for once and give me a break? Finally, as a last-ditch effort, I throw him as far up as I can, flying up to punch him with all my might. I notice he does something similar as he angles his body to meet mine. I hear Fury say something, but it's too late as we slam right into each other. The force of the hit sends both of us in different directions. I hear someone call my name through the comms, but I don't have the energy to answer them as I fall from the sky. My head hurts... all I want is to close my eyes so I can rest for a bit. I think I deserve it since I worked so hard today only for people to stop trusting me. They probably hate me now... I'll add their names to the ever-growing list.
As I hit the ocean and my vision begins to dims all I can think about is Cristina. My goofy, sweet sister... I miss her so much. She would still trust me if she was alive... why did she have to die...
So quick update that the next chapter will be another flashback to Calliope's past. Also, I might be late with the next chapter. Although, I'll try my best not to do that.