Spirit - Steve Rogers Story

- 7-

"We have a lot of questions and you're going to answer them." Steve said in a dark voice. They all had stood in half a circle, speaking to Rei in her cell. She could sense others watching her through the security camera, likely to be Maria, Helen, and Rhodey.

Rei was exhausted and had no energy to answer their questions. But she knew they deserved to hear some answers. They were curious and angry, all because she was scared. She sighed, willingly sitting herself up, leaning against the bench behind her. 

"Fire away," Rei said tiredly. 

Steve stared at her darkly, "Are you a HYDRA spy?"

If Rei had more energy, she would've laughed till she cried. But all she could muster out was a chuckle, "No, I'm not. I was there maybe a couple hours before Tony came and grabbed me. HYDRA is a disgusting organization, I would rather die before joining them." 

Rei watched all of their faces, "But that depends if you believe me or not." It was clear a few thought she was saying more lies.

"She's telling the truth," Natasha said to everyone. Natasha was an expert at detecting when someone was lying. "But why don't you exist on any of our databases?"

The team couldn't find anything on Rei. No missing persons, no last name, nothing. 

Rei glanced at Thor before continuing, "It's because I didn't exist on this planet until a few days ago."

Thor's eyes widened, "You are not from Midgard."

Rei shook her head. "No, I'm not. I come from a planet called Spirit. Earth and Spirit would be considered twin planets. Quite similar with few differences." 

"Like what?" Bruce asked out of curiosity.

Rei had a ghost of a smile on her face, "Our technology was far more advanced. The technology you have now was what we had maybe a hundred years ago. Our people looked the same, except ours had abilities. Few didn't, but many could either bend fire, earth, water, or air. We had our own nations, countries is what you would call it. We had our problems, but we always worked them out like any other planet."

Thor had tears brimming his eyes, "My mother.. Frigga, she was quite found of your planet. She enjoyed your people's kindness and consideration." Thor recalled the times when his mother would tell him the stories of the Spirit people. He had visited once for a short while, and enjoyed it immensely. 

Rei smiled at him, remembering speaking with Frigga. Her kindness was inspiring.

"You're talking in past tense." Clint called out.

Rei stilled for a moment, closing her eyes. "It is in the past." She swallowed, willing to hold onto her tears. "This, man, came to our planet, attempting to wipe half our population. He didn't know how strong we were, we didn't know we angered him. Spirit, is- is now a vacant planet."

The room went silent for a few, Rei looking towards the floor. She had lost everyone she loved, her home now lost. 

"I was the strongest among them, and they sent me away in hopes to fulfill my destiny. I landed here." Rei quickly finished. She didn't want to get into the details and lose her strong façade. Everyone made her feel at home here, but they reminded her of her loved ones back at home. Distracting herself was they only way she knew how to mourn.

She blamed herself. The strongest on Spirit wasn't able to stop a threat she knew was coming. Her people fought and fought, not willing a stranger to take over. Rei remembered arguing with her masters, demanding that she stay and fight. They forced her into Atlas, the ship that traveled her to Earth, despite her protests. She had cried, banging on the glass, while they smiled sadly at her. Rei didn't even get to say goodbye to her family. Their deaths were on her head. Rei hated herself for failing. She promised herself she wasn't going to do it again.