Gwendolyn Porter (Avengers Fanfiction)

Chapter Sixteen: Runner

April's eyes wonder through the page, grasping onto each and every single word.

I have never read the file, I knew it existed, but the contents were unknown to me. They kept track of everyone there, down to the janitor.

There was another girl. I never got her name and I saw her only a few times. She seemed almost brainwashed. She stared me down once, her eyes pierced my heart. She had to be only slightly older than me. Her giant, fluffy, dark brown hair was pulled into two ponytails on her head. But what really caught me, was how she seemed to fade away and reappear. I never knew what happened to her.

"April..." my voice is pulled to the back of my throat, cinched into nothingness.

She looks up at me, pupils wide. "You're labeled as a category five threat." She stands up, straightening herself out.

"Was I?" I respond coldly. Of course I know I'm a category five, I was in isolation for years, they don't keep just anyone there.

April grabs her TV remote and flips through channels until she finds one with my masked face covering the screen.

She throws the remote on the couch. "Thats you! Dear god how did I not know?!" Shes screaming now. Her voice reaching levels I didn't know existed.

"Listen I can explain-" I put my hands in front of me, to back her off.

"Save it Gwen! How could you keep this from me?!"

As if on cue a familiar face appears on the screen. A reporter holds a mic to her mouth, "So Starling, what do you think of this mysterious arsonist running through the streets?"

Her face is a pale white, covered by a silver mask over her eyes and nose. Her curly blonde hair is pulled into a tight ponytail with fly aways covering her bright blue eyes.

Her voice gives her identity away to me. "Well, wherever they are, they won't be in hiding soon. This arsonist burned down a whole apartment building, and now they leave their markings at the bottom of our subway. They will be brought to justice."

I feel a switch flip inside me as I grab the remote and turn it off. "Are you kidding me April. Or is it Starling." Her name reads like venom on my tongue.

April scoffs. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I lift my hand and a ball of black flame ignites it.

April/Starling produces a sparkling golden forcefield wrapping around herself.

"Thats what I thought," I respond, putting my defenses down, "you would be the one to lie till the end."

"This isn't about me! You have been going around ruining New York, setting fire!"

"Have not! I have been an emotional human yes but you calling me an arsonist is extremely unfair!"

"I'm not a category five threat!" She spits.

I cackle, getting closer to her. "Yeah you're some respected superhero. Saving lives that you have no ownership over! You're not the Avengers!"

April brushes her hair back. "Gwen if you come with me we can help you do good."

I can't help the sarcasm that vents out of me. "I don't want to do anything! I want to be a normal person. I never wanted this!"

I throw my hands in the air, she knows I'm pissed. She knows. I feel the black flicker around my eyes, trying to take over.

April shakes her head in disgust. "You have a gift, and you don't want to use it for good?"