𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 | 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬

The Girl with the Hive Mind

"𝙇𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙜𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙮𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙?" 

 "𝘼𝙗𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩!

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

'Ready, ready, ready.'

'Be alert.'

'You are ready.'

Chloe tossed in her bed. She squeezed her eyes shut even more and hoped to God that sleep would finally claim her. If not, she was about to feel terrible for taking a bed that wasn't hers.

'Be ready. There's a 98% chance they are coming.'

Chloe's eyes snapped open and though she couldn't see it, she knew that her eyes were glowing bright blue again. Those numbers hadn't come from them. The Hive Mind spoke very little English to her. No, those numbers had come from her.

Chloe sat up and rubbed her eyes. Sleep was not going to happen tonight.

"Dammit," she threw the covers and got out of bed. It was near six a.m. Another failed night of sleep. She might as well do something productive that morning. She walked up to the dresser and faced her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were still glowing blue. She shook her head hard enough to feel a little dizzy but it was fine if it meant getting rid of the glow and the whispers.

Steve was already in the kitchen getting a drink when Chloe walked in. One look at her and he knew exactly what happened — again. "No sleep?" Chloe silently shook her head as she went in search for a clean glass in the cabinets. "And here I thought you were just coming to join me for my morning run today."

"Mm..." Chloe smirked, "Trying to flatter yourself?"

Steve half smiled, but even then it did not last long. The seriousness took his face over as he continued to study Chloe. "If it has to do with the Hive Mind, you should really see somebody." Steve was almost positive that Chloe's lack of sleep, and other odd symptoms, were because of the alien Hive Mind living in her head.

"Nothing to worry about," Chloe assured him but Steve didn't buy it.

He'd noticed these past days that Chloe was acting a little strange — stranger than usual anyways. He'd grown to really know Chloe Winters, his sometime roommate in D.C. and overall a good friend. Chloe was one of SHIELD'S agents who went on spontaneous missions all over the world but almost always returned to headquarters every few months for a while. Usually in her short stays in D.C. she would be up and about. She was like a buzzing bee—she never stopped. But this time around, she seemed more tired and distant. Something was on her mind and she wasn't saying a thing.

"You're kinda late, aren't you?" Chloe remembered the time it was before leaving his room and it being the hour it was now meant Steve had also slept very, very little last night. Something about her words flustered him and it wasn't until he explained what happened that Chloe understood why.

"I, uh, got held up talking to Seren..." Steve cleared his throat and moved his empty glass to the sink.

"Aaah," Chloe lifted an eyebrow at him, watching him fumble trying to wash his glass. "Another video call?" Steve nodded fairly fast and made a clear attempt to avoid her gaze by washing quicker and harder. "What's that? The fourth call this week?"

"They're just calls."

"And I was born yesterday." Chloe smirked. "I know I look young — my skin care routine is immaculate — but we all know those are two lies. So," she set her own glass on the counter, "what did we talk about? Date ideas—"