Daughter of Steel

Chapter Six

And so I head outside with my mountain of food. It's sunny, and slightly breezy, so I find myself a tree to sit under where I can eat my food.

I'm just getting settled and am about to take the first bite out of my sandwich (ham and mustard if you must know), when a sudden gust of wind blows past my ear, making me jump.

I sigh, getting up and peering round the tree. There's nothing there.

I sit down, telling myself that it was just a gust of wind, nothing more. I sit down again, and this time , as the gust of wind blows past, my lunch mysteriously disappears. Ok, that's the last straw. Before it was funny, now it's annoying.

"PIETRO MAXIMOFF! I KNOW YOU'RE HERE!" I scream into the treetop.

Ok, maybe that was a bad choice. There's now a bunch of people staring at me as if I'm some sort of mad person. I can feel my cheeks getting redder and redder by the minute.

I hear a small whoosh just behind my left ear, and I can practically hear Peter laughing at me. I slowly turn and peek to the right of the tree, feigning confusion. Then I quickly jam my elbow into Peter's ribs, and slam him against the bark of the tree.

"What the HELL that?" I scream into his face, pushing my wrist against his windpipe.

"Woah woah WOAH, Abi, just chill out woman!" Peter chokes out in a strained voice. "It was just a joke! Can you even take a joke?"

Right, that's it. A red mist seeps over my eyes and I begin to push harder on Peter's throat, crushing his windpipe.

A memory flashes in my mind

"I want Schmidt. Klaus Schmidt. Where is he?"

My grip on Peter's arms constricts.

"Our clients don't provide addresses. We're not-"

"Not that sort of bank?"

I feel Peter stop struggling. People are grabbing at my back but I'm far too strong for them.

Metal fillings eh? Not gold. Worried someone might steal them?

Through the red mist I hear a voice shouting my name. Peter's? No, this voice is older, more tired.

Charles.

"Abi! Abigail Lensherr, stop this right now!"

I begin to release my grip slightly, but not completely.

"You can fight this Abi, I know you can; you're completely strong enough. "

"NO I'M NOT!" I screech between gritted teeth.

"Abi, listen to me. You are NOT your father, do you hear me?"

And all of a sudden I've snapped out of it. I've released my grip on Peter's neck completely, and he's fallen to the ground.

I drop to my knees, shaking, and grab his shoulders, checking him for signs of life.

"Peter, I'm so so sorry, wake up please, I-"
My voice tails off as I see his blue lips. I panic, and start shaking and screaming uncontrollably. All I want to do is apologise.

But I never get a chance to. He's carried away by a group of people from the medical ward.

I start screaming his name as I try to run towards him.

"PETER! Please wake up!"

I'm still screaming as I feel arms, strong, steady arms, pick me up.

I don't know what do. OK, I do know what I want to do, I want to run to the medical ward and check if Peter's alive. But that's out of the question, seeing as I've gone as limp as a rag doll. Also, my other option of the ground swallowing me up doesn't seem to be happening either.

Without warning, what I've done finally dawns on me, travelling up my throat and choking me.

Now there's nothing to do but cry.