First Light | Steve Rogers (Book Two)

Chapter Twenty-Four: History Rewritten

Phil had gone along with Mace and Agent Burrows to the cultivation centre to rescue some of Hydra's prisoners, including one of their agents. The rest us had been left behind at the base. Things between Jemma and I were still a little tense, but we were trying our best to avoid another confrontation.

Ever since Mack arrived, we had gotten on quite well. We were both parents of young children, desperately trying to get by in a cruel world. Hope and Tasha were already friends, although the latter was still a little on the young side, since Hope was almost eleven.

"Hydra had a plan, I'll give them that," he chuckled humourlessly as we watched Jemma flick through Hope's history textbook, "Scare everyone, take over the media, rewrite history. You know what's not in that book? The Trail of Tears, the Holocaust, Martin Luther King Jr."

The woman let out a long and weary sigh and shook her head, "I can't believe it. The blatant lies, the complete disregard for historical or scientific fact"

He nodded, "That's why, in my house, I'm the judge of what's fact or fiction"

"Same with Mel and I," I chuckled as I sipped my mug of coffee, "We wanted to keep Tasha behind, teach her ourselves. But that's not exactly legal, so we were practically forced to send her in"

We were distracted by Hope, who called him over to see a trick she'd been taught by Melody. He excused himself from the conversation, grinning widely as he watched her play with the cup and ball toy.

Jemma's face contorted into a scowl when she saw Ward sat nearby, "What are you smiling at?"

"Same thing you are. Big fake dad loving his little fake kid in this crazy fake world," he huffed, "I finally get why you don't like me... you think I'm someone I'm not"

"Forget I said anything. You don't believe me, and I can't really look at you"

I rolled my eyes and he scoffed quietly, "Wow. What did I do in this other reality? Did I hurt someone? Did I kill someone?"

There was a pause and she turned to glare at him with a look of pure hatred, "More than one"

"For what it's worth, for whatever I did do... I'm truly sorry" he murmured. Her gaze softened a little.

I nodded over to the small group gathered in the corner, "Look at that. You feel that, don't you? The way he loves his kid? The way Mel and I love ours?"

"Of course"

"Then doesn't that make it real?"

The radio next to us suddenly began to beep and buzz with static, "Cultivation centre. Code 10-14. Repeat, Code 10-14"

Jemma frowned when she saw Ward go a little pale, "What's that?"

"It's a potential breach. They've been discovered"

"You left them?" Ward groaned as he spoke into the radio, his tone full of exasperation.

Agent Burrows, who was on the other line, paused guiltily. "Those were his orders," he sighed, I'm carrying precious cargo"

"All right. Copy that, Burrows. Over and out," there was a quiet click from the radio and he turned to look at Jemma and I, "Mace needs an extraction. I'm going in. We lose him, our fight's over. Hydra wins"

"How many people can you gather?" the woman asked.

He frowned and glanced around, "Uh, not many. Most people here are refugees, everyone else is out. Guess it's time to see what the big man can do"

I quickly rushed forwards to block him from getting to Mack, "Not him"

"Why not?"

"Because he shouldn't go. I'll go in his place"

He frowned as he and Jemma watched me in confusion, "You sure? It's not gonna be pretty"

I shrugged, "He's all that Hope's got. At least Tasha will have Melody and Mitch if anything happens to me"

"Someone say my name?"

We all span around, seeing Mitch make his way down the hall with a holster strapped to his belt. "What are you doing?" I hissed.

The man chuckled as he readjusted the straps on his kevlar vest, "Going on the extraction mission. Ward paged me. You sure you wanna do this? It's completely okay for you to stay behind"

"No. I've done enough harm by hiding away," I finally decided, "If Tasha's really a potential Inhuman, Hydra will be after her. I will do anything and everything in my power to protect her. Nobody can stop me"

There was a quiet cough from behind me and I turned to see Melody and Tasha standing in the doorway. "I heard everything," she murmured as she pulled me into a bone crushing hug, "Stay safe, okay?"

I nodded and kissed her cheek before crouching down to hug Tasha, "Be good for your Mama. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can. I love you"

"Love you too, Mommy"