Who am I

Chapter 23

-May 4, 2016-

"Come on Sophiea! It's time to get up and go." MJ came over and shook the girl out of her sleep. "You have 15 minuets to get ready you need to hurry."

"Just leave me." Sophiea rolled over and pulled the blankets over her head.

MJ ripped the sheets and comforter off the bed. "Sopheia, this is the last time I'm going to tell you, as if the first 3 times weren't enough. You have to get out of bed and get ready."

"No."

"That's the last straw I'm getting Peter." She stormed out of the room to grab her boyfriend.

Sophiea sat up and stared at her hands. She felt so much, but she was so numb. Pain and conflict raged inside her brain and body. The door opened and seconds later the bed sunk down with the weight of another person. She was engulfed in a hug.

"Peter, everything hurts." A tear ran down her cheek. "Why does everything hurt so much?" Sobs racked her body and she fell on her best friend's shoulder.

"I don't know Sophiea. Sometimes love just hurts." She heard the door open as Peter tried to comfort her. "You don't have to come today."

MJ slammed a tray with toast and eggs on the nightstand. "Peter don't tell her that. She is going to come to the decathlon. We've agreed to help these students and she's refusing now that we're here."

"Let's talk outside, ok?" Peter stood up and guided his girlfriend out into the hallway, the door slammed, but opened back up again. Unbeknownst to the couple, Sophiea could hear the entire conversation.

"MJ, she's in pain. She's lost someone important to her. We can't make her go. Just let her mourn."

"She just can't lay there all day feeling like crap. She needs to get out, live a little. The team needs her too. Pete, you as a friend, can't possibly let her sulk all day."

"This is part of grief. I refuse to make her go out before she's ready, and if that means letting her stay in bed in cry, then so be it!"

"Peter," She started to say, but was cut off with a kiss. Sophiea sighed and got out of bed. She owed it to her friends to try.

They walked back into the room and saw her zipping up her pants and pulling on her jacket.

Peter and MJ stared in open mouth shock. "Why are you up?" Peter's voice was apprehensive.

"MJ is right. I need to do something." She grabbed the toast and a ponytail holder and started to walk out the door, her friends close on her tail.

"No, you need to cry and feel this pain. You can't hold it in forever."

"Peter, let the girl talk."

"The stages of grief are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. She can't move on if we don't let her cry."

"It's ok. We need to help the kids win this. For the team."

"Fine. Come with us." They raced to the bus and sat down.

....

Hours later, Sophiea needed to take a break from the stuffy room that she had been crammed in, listening to kids from all over the country try and outsmart each other.

She walked out into the warm spring air and took a deep breath. She glanced down at her phone and wanted to scream. Many alerts flashed on and off the screen. The disappearance of Jane Foster in London; attacks in Washington D.C.; the betrayal of Captain America and The Black Widow. She looked to the sky and saw 3 shapes in the sky over S.H.I.E.L.D.

A small red dot showed on her chest. She turned and ran back into the building. Through the windows, red shown on people.

A teacher from Utah, 3 of the judges, Peter.

She tried to signal to her friend to get down, but he just waved back. There was a crashing heard and the ground shook.

Students and teachers dropped to the ground. Sopheia ran to the window to see a second helicarrier fall from the sky.

There was an eerie silence that hung in the air. A kid called for their mother.

The third helicarrier crashed moments later.

She pressed a hand to the thin glass and watched them go down. There was no doubt that this was Steve's doing.

Someone dragged her to the ground, and she turned to see Peter, pulling her hand to lead her to the group. "People are already saying it's a terrorist attack." he whispered.

She just nodded her head.

"What's on your phone? Seeing as you are the only one with a phone right now, what are the updates?"

She glanced at the screen. "Crap."

"Not very helpful, Sophiea!"

They got to the group and Sophiea read the titles out loud. "S.H.I.E.L.D.-The elite undercover government branch has fallen. All our secrets are out. Black widow- Her real story. Who is the Winter Solider?" the last one she looked at made her chuckle. "A road side battle-The end of Captain America?!?!?!?"

A student in the group gasped and a tear ran down her face. "Captain America is dead?" Other kids started to cry and panic.

"I'm sure he's fine. It takes more than a masked man to take him down."

A senior spoke up and pushed towards Sophiea. "How do you know that? You got Steve Rogers on speed dial?"

Sophiea looked at the texts from Tasha and an unknown number, who said his name was Sam, rolling in. "Would you believe me if I said I told you yes?"

The class all turned to glare at her accusatorily. "No, no one would believe you. I don't think any of us could."

Sophiea rolled her eyes. "I babysit Stark's kid sometimes. Steve is at the tower often." She nodded. It wasn't lying if she did watch Morgan every once and a while. "I have him on speed dial."

"Prove it."

She held up the phone and made a show of pressing Steve's contact. It dialed for a moment and she could hear Tasha's voice. "It's Sophiea. Shut up."

"Is Steve ok?"

"He was a couple minuets ago." She heard the tears in her voice. "I don't know. He was on the last helicarrier. Sam's looking around the river."

Sophiea took the phone off speaker and pressed it to her ear. Looking around she walked to a secluded corner of the room. "Is he alive though?"

"I don't know." Sopheia started to cry.

"I can't lose him too. I lost Nat last night. I can't lose Steve too." She heard sobs from the other line. "I'm so sorry Tasha. I'm so so sorry. I could have saved him."

"You couldn't have. He had called me before and-and he told me that he was going to die. Sophiea just promise you are going to stay safe. It's going to be ok. They are going to find Steve," There was a slight whisper and then a yell. "They found him. THEY FOUND HIM!"

"Is he alive?" Sophiea yelled and she heard Tasha ask the person she was talking to.

"Yes. He's breathing. They are taking him to the hospital. I'm going to head over. Oh my gosh. He's alive."

Sopheia hung up and walked over to the group. "On the bright side, he's alive."

"Whatever."

Sophiea followed the group and as she left the building felt the shock leave her body and the pain return. She wiped her eyes and walked after the group.

....

Blood. War. Fighting. Asgard was in chaos and Loki could feel it. He could tell the moment his mother was killed. Pain erupted in heart. "Thor." He called. "Thor."

His beloved mother died fighting for the woman Thor loved. Deep down Loki knew that his mother would have done the same for Kaitia.

"Thor. I'll help you. Whatever you need."