EVERMORE ─ marvel

V. Rise Up

Chapter Five
Kieran

I haven't been in a Kree prison cell since I was eighteen. I had deserted my legion, my commanding officer had reported it in, and I knew that coming back to Hala meant my imprisonment, maybe execution. I didn't care though. I needed to get my mother out. I needed to save her. The second I landed back on Hala I was put in shackles and thrown into this exact prison. I was held here for days, given little to eat, with only a slab of stone to sleep on and nothing but my fears to accompany me. Four days after my imprisonment, I was taken to the Supreme Intelligence, shown my mother's dead body, then forced into the cuff that would enslave me to the Kree for over two centuries.

I wonder what will happen when I'm taken out of this prison for the second time.

All my fears for that inevitable moment are centered around Naomi, that it will be her dead body that I'm presented to this time. There's a chance they might not kill her because she's a powerful political figure, but that won't matter if the Kree are planning on going to war with Earth anyways. Yon-Rogg did tell her and the others to leave, but what if that was just a rouse? A ploy to get me to believe she was safe, only to present me with the truth when they see fit to punish me for my crimes.

I shouldn't have let her come here. I knew it would be dangerous, I knew I would be arrested, I knew this all would happen. I shouldn't have believed her when she said she could convince the Kree to join us, I should have forced her to see reason and convince her to stay on Earth where it's safe. But it's too late. The Kree could already have her, they could be hurting her, torturing her.

She could already be dead.

I refuse to believe that. She has to still be alive. She has to be.

I hear a groan of pain come from down the hall, followed by a thud. Then some footsteps. Lots of footsteps. The way this prison is designed is that the cells are completely isolated. You can't see anything, you can't talk to anyone, all you can do is sit and wait for your punishment. These cells aren't designed to be sound proof though, none of the prison is. Every prisoner, every citizen that passes by, is meant to hear the screams of agony that emanate from this prison. But the groan and thud I just heard, the footsteps...something is off.

A clanking sound comes from the other side of my cell, like keys hitting one another. Maybe this is it, this is when I'll be punished and taken to whatever fate awaits me. All I can do is wait for them to come in. I have no sword, no weapons, nothing. I have nothing.

The door swings open revealing three Kree. They aren't wearing guard uniforms, they aren't from Starforce, they just appear to be average citizens. That's what their clothes would suggest. They're heavily armed though, and they have rather aggressive looks on their faces. This is either really good or really bad.

"Kieran Harlow?" The middle Kree asks, a man probably three or four hundred years old, still young by Kree standards. He's wearing worn out clothes, just like the other two, with a large blaster in his hand. He has a large scar on his cheek, like a sword cut him.

I nod. He nods back. The woman next to him tosses me something. It's my sword. I glance at it and then back at them, apprehension bubbling up inside me. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"We'll do the introductions later. All you need to know right now is that we're here to help you."

"Why should I trust you?"

The man gestures to the cell. "Looks like you don't have a choice."

Fair point. I grip onto my sword tightly and follow them out of the cell, startled when I see several others waiting, wearing similar clothes, standing over knocked out guards.