Thanatophobia

7 | Sides

k u e b i k o

a state of exhaustion inspired by acts of senseless violence

~~~

Gryffin realized how much of a mistake this truly was.

She should've shifted out when she had the chance, but instead she's stuck in the presence of Nick Fury, Natasha Romanoff, and the man who made her life hell. She would ask if this could get worse, but Murphy's Law stopped her.

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

Fury brings Pierce to the retinal scanner and Natasha kept a steady aim on the latter, her eyes flicking over to Gryffin every now and then. 

"Retinal scanner active," the robotic voice of the computer chimed. Pierce looked at Fury, challenge fiery in his eyes. "You don't think we wiped your clearance from the system?"

They had, but Gryffin had brought it back in, nearly exposing her true plans for HYDRA and SHIELD. She bristled slightly as Natasha looked at her again and she raised her eyebrow at the redhead before looking away.

"I know you erased my password, probably deleted my retinal scan, but if you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Secretary," he cut off and flipped up his eyepatch, revealing his dead eye, the iris milky and a scar running over it. "you need to keep both eyes open."

Both Pierce and Fury looked at the retinal scanner and the computer alerted, "Alpha level confirmed. Encryption code accepted. Safeguards removed." Natasha types at the computer, finally looking away from Gryffin's impassive face.

"Done." She glimpses at her phone then looks up, a smirk resting on her lips, "And it's trending." Pierce suddenly presses the buttons on his phones and the three other Councilmen gasp in pain, the pins burning holes into their chests. Natasha and Fury raise their guns then aim them at Pierce.

"Unless you want a two inch hole in your sternum, I'd put that gun down," Pierce says to Natasha, when she doesn't back down, he adds, "That was armed the moment you pinned it on." The two true SHIELD agents lower their guns reluctantly and Pierce motions to Gryffin to go to the computer.

She merely quirks her head at him and smiles, saying, "You didn't wonder why Fury's retinal scan was still in after you had the others delete it?" With that she cracks her neck and wiggles her fingers as she shifts back into the shadows.

Fury manages a small smirk.

She was on their side.

~~~

She had shifted to where her brother was, making sure he wasn't in over his head. She saw him and Sam facing each other and she was torn. One would think that she would immediately choose her brother but he was the reason she was in this mess in the first place, volunteering her into the program and whatnot. Sam had saved her on multiple occasions and he was the reason she was sane.

She chose Sam.

"Sam run!"

His head whipped to her as she pulled Brock into a chokehold, rendering her brother unconscious and giving Sam the chance to run. He took her advice and ran, noticing the Helicarrier that had started to crash into the building.

"Please tell me you got that chopper in the air! Fin! Come on!" She shook her head at him and shouted again, but was drowned out by the sound of the building collapsing. He hesitated but turned and ran again, tears blurring his eyesight.

"Sam where are you?!"

"41st floor, north-west corner!" he shouted, sprinting harder at the sound of Gryffin's ear-piercing screams for her brother. "We're on it! Stay where you are!"

"Not an option!" He spared a glance back just in time to see Gryffin get up and look at him, her hazel eyes wide with fear before she disappeared under the rubble. He jumped through the window and crashed into the chopper heavily.

"41st floor! 41st!"

"It's not like they put the floor numbers on the outside of the building!" Fury shouted back and Sam looked back at the crumpling building.

It was like he was just up there to watch.

~~~

She had just barely managed to shift into the shadow of the Helicarrier before she faced the same fate as her brother. Her back burned due to the cuts and her face was sticky with sweat, tears, and blood.

She looked up, her eyesight blurry as she watch Steve help Bucky out from the fallen piece of the rubble, only for the latter to lash out and attack his old friend.

Gryffin was suddenly very aware of the sound of her breathing.

Shallow and forced, as though she was forcing herself to breath, to stay alive. Her head pounded and her vision was blurry. Her hands shook and her knees nearly buckled under her own weight. She felt dead.

And she watched as the world fell around her again.

~~~

When her body hit the water, she expected pain, excruciating agony from the impact. Instead she felt calm. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times before smiling softly. The water around her was tinted red with her blood but she couldn't care less. The pounding had lessened, her back no longer feeling as though it were on fire, and lastly, she couldn't hear herself breathing.

It was silent.

She relished the quiet, resting her eyes from the water and letting herself sink slowly her smile never fading.

She barely noticed the dark figure swimming towards her and pulling her from the water.

~~~

She woke up in a hospital, her back on fire again, her head pounding, a tube shoved down her throat, and annoying beeping ringing through the air. She carefully pulled out the tube, gagging slightly at the sensation. As soon as it was out she sat up and looked around and her mouth dropped at the sight of her barely recognizable brother.

He was completely covered in burns, his skin, was it even skin? was dark red and looked, well, wrong. He was awake, his eyes aimed to the ceiling. He seemed to finally notice that she was awake and he turned, grimacing slightly.

"You're the traitor, huh?"

~Sarah