Chapter 4

When Steve finally found Sophia, something had changed. That much was clear, as soon as he looked into her eyes. The colour of her eyes had changed into a vibrant blue colour, that he had never seen before. Like a deep dark ocean that had a fire beneath them, which was slowly taking over. Devouring the waters. For a moment they took his breath away. The fire seemingly taking over Sophia's body. It shocked him.

Sophia was strapped to a table and he hurried to get her lose. Her whole body was shaking. She felt cold too the touch. Too cold. And he could smell the fear on her. What had they done to her?

Bruises covered her body, her skin was far too pale and her hair drenched in sweat. Needle marks on upper her arms showed they had injected her, but there was nothing in the room. He had no idea what they had put in her. And with the fights going on in the compound at this point, he was certain evidence would be lost forever.

"Sophia, I'm here," He whispered, as his hands moved fast to pull on her restraints," I'm here to take you home. You're safe now" he said and pulled her up from the table, wrapping his arms around her.

"Steve!"Sophia exclaimed, as if only now registering that he was there, "I'm scared" she said and pulled him closer to her as tears streamed down her face. Still shaking, she set her feet on the ground, wobbly as they were.

"I'm here now" Steve said and hugged her tight.

"They did something to me" Sophia whispered and looked up to him with fear in those strange vibrant blue eyes.

"We will figure it out. Let's just get out of here" He said and directed her towards the door he had used to enter the room. As soon as the door opened, sound came at them from all ends. Sophia felt it pounding through her head and lost her footing. Luckily Steve was there to catch her before she fell to the ground. He steadied her and as soon as she seemed ready, he got them moving again.

Outside the room they were greeted by Natasha, who looked at Sophia with a hint of surprise before her face became unreadable again.

"We need to move" Natasha said and signalled for Steve and Sophia to go ahead of her. She would protect their backs.

Steve kept an arm around Sophia as he moved her through the corridor at a quick pace. Sophia tried to match his stride, but he was quite fast and she was just so tired. She struggled but kept moving, until Steve stopped her at the end of the corridor. He pushed her behind him and glanced around the corner.

She slumped against the wall. Exhaustion was pulling at her. Trying to get her to surrender to it and just close her eyes. Perhaps a second would be enough, her body seemed to tell her. Sophia kept telling herself to stay awake, but she knew it was really only a matter of time before her body would stop cooperating.

"This hallway is clear," the voice of Clint interrupted her thoughts, she looked to see the familiar face walking towards them. Steve turned back to Sophia, he saw the exhaustion on her face and with a simple look at Natasha and Clint, he picked her up. Clint nodded and began walking, staying in front of them, while walking quickly. Natasha kept up the rear.

Sophia was glad to be off her feet and leaned into Steve. She could feel her eyes dropping and she fought to keep them open. She couldn't sleep until they were safely out of the compound.

The next corridor led them outside and Sophia was blinded by a huge light that flashed the bridge they were nearing. She could see the quinjet in the distant, about a mile away from the bridge and she felt relieved. It would not be long now. She could almost close her eyes. Freedom was close and she could almost touch it.

That was when they were attacked and Steve quickly put her on the ground. Sophia could feel a new burst of adrenaline coursing through her veins and this gave a little strength to keep standing. She didn't expect she could ask much more of herself, but standing on her own was a good thing.

She leaned on the handrail, that lined the bridge and slowly let Natasha inch her forward while Clint and Steve fought off their attackers.

As soon as they had crossed the bridge, Natasha told her to hide somewhere along the tree line and joined in on the fighting. Their path to the quinjet had been blocked by their attackers on one side and a massive body of water on the other side. Sophia looked around and saw she had been held in a compound by a dam. She looked at the dark body of water and wondered if she really saw rings of movement in them or if she was just imagining those. Rings you get when a drop of water falls into a puddle or something. That's what it looked like.

Sophia quickly ducked into some bushed and tried to find herself a good hiding place amongst them. She could feel her mind unravel as panic took over. She saw Steve fighting off several attackers. Natasha by his side. She couldn't see anybody else, but they had followed them outside she was sure of it. Sophia wasn't trained to fight, she didn't know what to do. Even if she had not been this exhausted, she would have been of no use to them. Her abduction had showed her that much.

As she hunched underneath one of the larger shrubs at the treeline, rain started falling down on them. Softly at first, but quickly it was pouring. The drops of water fell down on her and the liquid seemed to speak to her. She could detect every small vibration that her surroundings brought to the water. She didn't know why, but assumed it was something they had done to her. Panic rose once again from the pit of stomach and it took all her will power to sit silently under the cover of plants.

Her surprise was so big, however, that she took her eye of her surroundings and just watched the droplets on her hand dance around. Something in her core seemed to dance along to the rhythm of the rain.

She was distracted by this feeling and didn't notice the men that were sneaking up on her, until the grabbed her and started pulling her back towards the compound. One of the men had quickly covered her mouth with tape, so she wouldn't scream and alert Steve.

As the panic swirled inside of her, the rhythm in her core sped up. Sophia could feel her insides turning and starting to boil. She wasn't sure just what was happening, fear gripping at her. All she knew, was that ir hurt so much, and she needed to scream. As if to let out the energy building inside of her.

Just as she was on the bridge, getting closer to the compound, located in the dam, she felt a surge go through her. Almost like a release, something snapped inside of her. The pain ebbed away and for a second she let the relief come over her.

Sophia momentarily relaxed in the arms of her captures as she relished in the absence of pain. It had been excruciating. However, the release of the pain without her doing anything, also scared her half to death. She strained her neck to look around her, hoping to see what was happening around her, when screams erupted all around her. Fearful screams. Her captures stopped and she could look over the edge of the bridge. Below them the dam was giving way to the water it had been keeping in place. The lower parts of the compound quickly being flushed with water.

Sophia could almost feel the water rising beneath her, as if she was connected to it. A string that tied her to it, pulling it upwards, closer to her. It didn't take her long to realise that this must have been her doing. With eyes wide open in fear, she tried to push the water back, to no avail. She had no control over this massive body of water at this point.

Around her the rain seemed to pelt down harder and the men holding her, quickly let go. The rain was pelting down on them, slashing at them. They looked at her with fear and confusion. Sophia wasn't sure what to do now. Her whole body was in turmoil and she couldn't find a way to control it. Panic surged through her and her mind was in chaos.

The men that had been holding her started running towards land, Sophia quickly followed. She needed to get away from the water that was overtaking the compound. The compound was quickly overrun by the water and fearful screams filled the air as Sophia just tried to get on land as quickly as she could. Again she ran for the tree line and dropped down on the ground as soon as she felt she was at a safe distance from the dam.

"I did this" Sophia whispered as she looked at her hands. Rain was still pouring down on her and she cried as she tried to keep her hands from shaking.

"Babe!" Steve screamed as he came closer, dropping down next to her. He moved to wrap her in his arms but Sophia quickly moved away from him. She crawled on hands and feet as quick as she could.

"Don't touch me" she screamed, her voice thick with panic.

"Sophia, please" Steve pleaded with her, unaware of the war going on inside of her. He didn't understand why she pulled back from him.

"I did this" she whispered again.

"What do you mean?" he asked and looked at Natasha to see if she could make sense of this.

"I did this" Sophia just repeated and Natasha gasped.

"They did something to you.."Natasha recalled the words Sophia had spoken earlier.

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked irritably.

"They probably took her through terrigenesis or enhanced her in some other way" Natasha explain and Steve looked back at Sophia wide eyed.

"I killed all those people" Sophia whispered as sobs overtook her. Steve moved closer to Sophia and softly took her hand.

"This is not your fault" Steve whispered. When Sophia didn't pull back from him, he moved closer and wrapped her in his arms.

"Let me take you to the tower. We will take care of you" Steve whispered in her ear and Sophia was too numb by now to object. Shock had taken over her senses and all she could do was look at her hands. Those hands had killed at least a two dozen people, even though she still did not understand just how it worked.

"We will figure this out"Steve tried to reassure her as he scooped her up from the ground and carried her to the quinjet at a jogging pace.