I wake up to a loud noise, I blink and rub my eyes. I glance around my room and my eyes widen as I see Henry shoving Clover against the wall, all traces of sleep are gone and I leap to my feet, crying out as pain shoots through me. Seriously, my enhanced healing needs to start working again.
"Let go of me" Clover says, her voice hard and commanding.
"You've let those psychos torture Storm for the past eight days and you think I'm going to listen to you? I'm going to bash your head in" Henry growls, slamming Clover against the wall once again. Clover brings her knee up, bashing it against Henry's stomach and then punches him, shoving him backwards onto the floor.
"Clover!" I snap, rushing over to her despite the pain I'm in. "Don't touch him." I stand in front of the two of them, though I have no doubt Clover is happy to hurt me if I get in-between them.
"He started it!" Clover exclaims. Does she think I care about that right now? Clover has started all of this; her organisation was able to kidnap us because Clover came and used me.
"Stay out of this, you're injured" Henry says to me, getting to his feet and glancing at me. A bruise has already started forming on his left cheek, and his green eyes are filled with concern, I don't think he realises I would rather get hurt than sit and watch him get hurt. We don't have our powers right now and Clover is a fierce fighter.
"We need to leave" Clover says, finger combing her blonde hair. She pulls down her short-sleeved grey top. I blink. What? Henry glances at me, confusion written all over his face too. "We have thirty minutes before the guards outside the room wake up, are you coming or not?"
"This is a trap, yeah?" Henry says, looking over at me. I nod quickly, Clover has stood by as I've been tortured for a week, and now she suddenly wants to help us escape.
"It's not! Victor and Susan are busy, we need to go before it's too late" Clover says, she glances at me. "I didn't want this, you have to believe me, do you really think I want to see you in pain?" I look away from Clover, annoyed she knows there is still a part of me that trusts her and cares for her, I truly wish I could stop caring about people.
"Storm doesn't fucking trust you! You've proven you're two-faced and neither of those faces are appealing" Henry snaps, crossing his arms as he glances at me, waiting for me to agree. I close my eyes, this is a trap, but either way it gets us out of this room.
I grab the black jacket at the end of my bed and put it on, trying my best to ignore the ache in my arms when I lift them up. "Whatever trap this is, it gets us out of here" I say softly to Henry. I wish he had his powers so he could read Clover's mind, but I honestly think he would refuse because he'd think it was pointless, we know what side Clover is on and what she cares about.
Henry considers it for a moment and then sighs heavily, he turns and faces Clover. "Fine, we'll come, but when we confirm this is a trap, I am going to kill you and then kill Susan and Victor."
"When you realise, I'm actually helping you, you owe me an apology" Clover replies, opening the door. She begins to walk away without waiting to see if we're following her. I roll my eyes; Clover cannot seriously think she's owed an apology after everything that has happened. Even if she is helping us, I'm sure it's for her own personal reasons. Clover flat out admitted she didn't care about me.
Clover presses her card against a door, and it opens, I haven't been through this door before. I glance over at Henry and give him a small shrug, Henry raises his eyebrows and gives me a look, I know he's telling me to not hold out hope that Clover is here to help. The walking is causing my already sore body to feel like it's on fire. My back is aching and with every step, a jolt of sharp pain shoots up my legs.
"Storm, you good?" Henry asks quietly, I nod even though I'm not. I just want to figure out what the hell Clover is doing, I'll be fine if I'm just not tortured for twenty-four hours or something. We get to a flight of stairs and walk down them, each step causing more pain to jolt through my body. Beads of sweat begin to roll down my forehead. I close my eyes, hating how weak my body is right now.
"You're looking really pale" Henry warns me, causing Clover to turn around and glance at me, concern washes over her face, I'd probably roll my eyes if I had the strength, but I need every bit of energy for when we arrive in Clover's trap.
"We're going to have to run soon, do you think you can do it?" Clover asks me, she fiddles with a strand of blonde hair.
"Yeah" I answer a little too quickly, I don't want to give Clover the satisfaction of seeing how much the torture has affected my body, I will run a million miles if I must.
"Once those doors open, run as fast as you can, once we reach the gate, we should be ok" Clover says, she scans her card, and the door opens.
I start running, ignoring the sharp pain that enters my entire body and the ache that begins almost immediately in my head. My head is pounding but I keep running, it looks like if we make it outside the gate we'll be off the property, we could escape.
"Stop" a voice yells, we're more than halfway to the gate. I don't dare to turn around, there's probably a million people behind us with guns. I close my eyes, ignore the pain, and run as fast as I can. I gasp in surprise as Henry reaches the gate, shoving it open and running out.
"Storm, c'mon" Henry urges me, I sprint as fast as I can physically can and I push the gate. We made it, but it's not time to celebrate yet. I tense as I see a red car pull up, oh no. I sigh, I should've just decided to stay in our room, they'll never let us out with just Clover again.
The window winds down and Peter's face appears, lighting up as he sees me. Despite everything, I smile. I am truly glad to see Peter, I've missed him so much. Clover immediately jumps into the back with Henry, so I race around and get into the passenger seat.
"Drive!" Clover yells, Peter presses down on the accelerator and the car speeds to life. I glance out the back of the car window, I can't see any cars behind us, they clearly didn't think we'd make it this far.
"I'm so happy you're safe" Peter says to me. "Both of you" he adds, glancing at Henry in the rear-view mirror and giving him a smile, Henry returns the smile. I think the two of them will get on just fine, it's hard to not get on with Peter.
"I've never been happier to see you" I say, smiling at Peter. Peter chuckles and returns the smile. Henry reaches forward and squeezes my shoulder.
"You're safe now and our powers are back" Henry says. He gives Clover a distrustful look. "Though I think Clover's figured out how to manipulate my telepathy."
Clover rolls her eyes but doesn't say anything. "Storm needs to rest, Peter, they tortured her." I rub my forehead; the adrenaline has worn off and I can feel all the pain I'm in.
"Clover did nothing to stop it" Henry pipes in.
"Shut up, Henry!" Clover snaps.
"Oh fuck off, Clover" Henry snaps back.
"We'll go to my place. I won't let them find either of you" Peter says.
*Author's Note* What do you think will happen now that Storm and Henry are free?
YOU ARE READING
Beautiful Ruins
Acción"Maybe there was a fleeting moment where I wanted to be a hero and believed I could be one, but the truth is I'm not, I won't ever be. My past does define me, it made me a villain" - Storm. Fifteen-year-old Storm is the daughter of Black Widow and I...
