Avengers: Daughters

Fifteen: Sam POV

The pain Ally must be feeling shows in her every action and word. She barely speaks but when she does, it's to reply to Libby's concerned questions or to give directions to Ruby. As the fastest driver and the one least likely to get arrested for speeding- her name has power- Ruby is driving us to Ally's recommended safe house. Ally's voice is quiet and keeps cracking and she hardly moves like she's afraid it will set the tears off.

"Who can we trust?" Libby says suddenly. "Out of everyone we know, who can we trust?"

There's a silence. That silence speaks a thousand words. There's no-one we can be sure to trust except each other. Suddenly my world is downgraded to these three other girls in this crappy car.

"What about that Riley Wilson guy?" Libby suggests when everyone is quiet. "And Violet Rhodes?"

"No," Ally shakes her head quickly. "We can't risk them getting involved. They're normal people with kind-of-normal parents. They're not involved in our mess."

"I wish I was normal," I sigh. "I wish my dad was an accountant and my mom was a teacher."

"Ugh, boring!" Ruby laughs. "I can't wait until I can move out and travel the world without SHIELD on my back!"

"SHIELD will always be on your back," I remind her. "We've become fugitives. And you're Stark and Banner's daughter."

"They'll forget about all of that soon enough," she replies with a smirk. "Once I show them what I have..."

"And what do you have?" Ally asks. Libby looks at me and I can see the confusion on her face. So Ruby's not told anyone her plan.

"I can't tell you-"

"Damnit, Ruby!" Ally slams her hands down on some plastic. "No secrets! We're a team!"

"We are a temporary solution."

"We're the Avengers Daughters, remember?" Libby says softly. "We can help save the world."

"We're a time bomb and we were created to blow up." Ruby snaps. "The information I have can stop the detonation."

"What do you mean created to blow up?" I frown. "You created us. You teamed us together. You did all of this."

Suddenly the car slams to a halt and we're all thrown backwards. Ruby turns round, her face full of rage. "Why do you think all of us were on that ship at the same time? All of our parents gone? That's happened before but normally we stay at home, right? We all were on that ship. No-one tried to distract us. We were tempted to find each other. Why? Because we've met before. We know each other. We played when we were kids. Is it just me who remembers that now? We played together and we were best friends. Then we got split up. Why? Why did they split us up? I remember my parents telling me not to play with you all anymore. That I couldn't be too reliant on you. That I shouldn't have such close friends with such deceptive parents. There has to be some reason that we couldn't meet until that day. Someone is manipulating us. This is more than a corrupt SHIELD. This is more than HYDRA. This has been in play our whole lives. So why have they decided to let us meet again now? Why now? What had happened before we met? Before our parents left for the mission?"

"We stopped trusting them. We stopped believing every word. We saw past the lies," Ally says numbly.

"They stopped being our role models," I add.

"We were blind and then we could see," Libby finishes.

Ruby looks at me, her eyes sorrowful and wet with tears. "Sam, we need you to find him. To make him help us."

"Who? Make who help us?" I ask. My heart already knows the answer. I'm already evaluating all the possible outcomes from this.

"Loki. Sam, we're going to need Loki."