HADES // T. STARK DAUGHTER // MARVEL I.I

9 ~ GIRL ~ 9

3RD POV

It wasn't fair. Nothing ever was.

The life of Harley Ray Stark had been short, but difficult. Nobody had noticed when she was raising herself, or when she suddenly stopped talking about her 'amazing brother' halfway through third grade. Nobody cared enough to see that something was wrong. Not until she was Harley Stark, daughter of Tony Stark, heir to Stark Industries. After that, everything she did was thrown back in her face later, her once invisible life suddenly overwhelmingly public.

No, it wasn't fair that Harley was only ever acknowledged as a daughter, a Stark, not an individual. Not herself. But that didn't mean she wasn't powerful. That she wasn't noticed.

After her disappearance, nearly every newspaper had a picture of her on the front page. Magazine's, websites, commercials- every possible source of media was exploited as the race to find the missing Stark dragged on. But, they never found anything. A half-empty carton of eggs and a pillowcase with a few pieces of candy. That was all that was waiting for her father, all that was left.

Seeing as she was the granddaughter of a Shield Founder, Director Fury himself put a team on finding the girl, but even they came up with nothing.

After almost nine months, nearly everyone had given up on finding her. But then, Shield got a hit. A body, in Russia, shot and killed. No, it hadn't been Harley. But the girl, she was nearly identical to the missing Stark. Same facial structure, a set of pink scars that matched the ones Harley had, even the same blood type. It wasn't the youngest Stark, but it was a start. Surely, wherever this girl had been, the Stark girl was too? Or it was an attempt at a faked death? They were too similar for it to be a coincidence. At least, that's what the Agents told themselves as they scoured Russia.

**

HERMES POV

"Aid. Vverkh, seychas. Doktor khochet demonstratsii." Hades. Up, now. The Doctor wants a demonstration.

We could hear the guards from our cell, just as we had been hearing Hades for the past few weeks, pounding, screaming, crying. It was colder without Ares, and even colder when we heard Hades. Zeus and I were powerless, as always. We couldn't help Ares, and surely we couldn't help Hades.

I rubbed my knuckles together, my knees bouncing as Hades screeched in pain, heavy footsteps following. I could hear them dragging her, the stumbling pattern of her feet different than that of the synchronized guards. As Hades screams faded, another set of captures came to our cell this time, grabbing us stiffly and pulling the two of us towards the training facility.

When we got inside, there was a tray of serum waiting, making my heart stop in fear. I still remembered the burning pain, worse than any other torture I had endured. But, I never got injected this time. Zeus never got injected. Instead, they held down Hades, with a lot of struggle, and shot her full of an odd bubbling liquid. Within moments, she had straightened, her mouth twitching before a small smirk formed.

And before I knew it, she was charging me. I quickly dodged, shoving her to the side instinctually. Hades had always been a better fighter than the rest of us, though she never seemed to be able to tell. She used to have fewer injuries, didn't get tired as easily, it was like she had been built to fight.

As the two of us faced off, I saw the dried blood stain on the cement, the last part of Ares left. And I understood. The guards weren't worried about Hades lashing out- they wanted to see how far she would go. They wanted her to kill me. Just like they shot Ares right in front of her, just like they isolated her. And I understood, all in the instant before Hades would lunge. Zeus and I were powerless, as always. We couldn't help Ares, and surely we couldn't help Hades.