The Sapphire Soldier

Changing Days

Something didn't feel right.
At all.

The second I left the rooftop after my conversation with Peter, that feeling followed me. It sat heavy in the back of my mind, refusing to go away no matter how far I flew.

Maybe it was because I'd just sat across from him and remembered every little thing we'd been through together, while he sat there with none of it.

Not one memory of me.
Not even the memory of fighting by my side.

That thought hurt more than I wanted it to.

I pushed it aside and changed direction, flying toward Damage Control. Something was going on there. I could feel it. And I wasn't about to ignore it.

I arrived at the building and immediately reached out with my powers.

One mind.
Then another.
Then another.

Within seconds I'd touched every mind I could find inside the building, bending their perceptions just enough to make myself disappear. Every time someone looked in my direction, their mind filled in something else instead. A wall. A window. An empty hallway.

Anything but me.

I wasn't exactly a fan of Damage Control. Maybe it wasn't Damage Control itself — maybe I just didn't trust anyone who claimed to work with the Avengers. There had been too many people like that. Too many organizations that promised they were there to help, only for something to go wrong later.

Trust wasn't something I handed out easily anymore.

I flew up toward one of the windows and looked inside. Peter was there, standing across from Bill Metzger, the director of Damage Control, talking about the attack.

I stayed outside the window, listening through the glass. Eventually Peter stood and started toward the door.

I reached into the room with my powers, just enough to hear what they were saying.

"Oh, I wanted to ask-" Peter stopped and glanced back. "The phrase V-Max doesn't mean anything to you, does it?"

Bill's expression shifted slightly. "No. Where'd you hear that?"

Peter shrugged. "It's just - you know, nature of being a superhero. Some things I just can't tell you." He gave an awkward smile. "Anyway, I'll see you later."

Peter walked away.

I immediately slipped into Bill's mind.

V-Max. I searched for anything. A memory. A conversation. A file. A thought.

Nothing.

He genuinely had no idea what V-Max meant.

That made me trust him slightly more.
...Who was I kidding? I still didn't trust him.

I pulled out of his mind and continued scouting the building, wanting a better idea of what exactly Damage Control was doing.

That's when I noticed the security system. A full-body scanner sat near the front desk. I hovered outside the window and reached toward it with my powers, trying to understand what it was capable of.

A man walked through. The machine scanned him head to toe.

Within seconds, information appeared across the screen. His identity. His age. His blood composition. His DNA.

Everything.

I watched the woman behind the desk glance through the information before clearing him to enter.

My stomach tightened. That was a lot of information to pull from one scan. Far too much.

I filed the details away and left the building, heading home.