Sarah felt a cold shiver as she woke up almost crying from her nightmare. Sitting up she ran her hands through her hair. Feeling the sweat, she decided to get up and try to calm herself down. She paced slowly around the room. Taking long deep breaths, before she stopped. Looking at someone in the reflection of the window. A woman. Sarah tried to distinguish the woman's appearance.
"Mom?" Sarah whimpered, as the vision of her became clearer. Sharon stood still. Silent. Sarah got closer to the window, reaching out towards her mother. "Momma..." she said again in disbelief. Sharon smiled, her blue eyes twinkling through the window. "Hello Sarah..." she softly said. Sarah took a sharp breath,
"I miss you Momma." She began to cry as her mother spoke softly to her. The sound of her voice was unfamiliar to Sarah and only made her words more comforting.
"Baby, I miss you too. So much." Sarah took a rasp as she continued, "Your father kept his word. He protected you. Kept you safe." Sarah interrupted her, remembering the events of the day
"He lied to me. About everything. Who he was. Why did he keep me locked away? He was keeping me prisoner. Sheltering me because he was scared of me." Sharon reassured her as she saw her daughter's frustration.
"No... When I was dying, your father made me a promise. That he would protect you no matter the cost. The only one who has lied to you... is Loki." Sarah wiped her tears and sniffled,
"What do you mean? Protect me from what?" Sharon took a breath and locked eyes with her daughter.
"Sarah, your father and I knew that you were special the moment you were born. You are not an ordinary child. You are the daughter of an Avenger, which makes you the most valuable thing on the planet. We were protecting you from people like Hydra and Loki. Protecting you from using your incredible power for their own gain. Loki has twisted the truth and used it against you." Sarah began to breath quickly realising what she had done hours earlier. Realising what she had said. How she had let Loki use her to crush her father's spirit. To turn her against the people who had made her who she was. Turning against her best friend. "Sarah, your father didn't lie to you. He was protecting you. He was ashamed of who he was and wanted to make a difference in the world by putting some good back into it." Sarah remembered how she would look up to her father when she was little. Remembering the man who used to chase her as a child. Remembering the father who told her stories and comforted her when she couldn't sleep. "Sarah, your father loves you, and he will always love you. I will always love you." Suddenly Sharon began to disappear, and she said her farewells as quickly as she could before Sarah could no longer see her. "I love you my darling Sarah." And with that Sharon was gone. Sarah gave another rasp as she placed her hand on her heart and softly whispered
"I love you too momma."
The air grew cold and the light faded away with Sharon's ghost. Sarah looked at her reflection in the window where her mother was standing seconds ago. Staring, she became repulsed at who she'd become, disgusted by the clothes Loki had dressed her in and by the way she tied her hair up into a roman-styled braid. He had made her the villain, showing her the dark side of herself. Memories of the attack against her family earlier on made her scream. In a flash of anger, she tore at her clothes. Violently trying to rip them off her skin as though they were burning her. She hadn't noticed Loki come into the room whilst she was screaming in frustration.
"Focus on that rage on that anguish and hatred. It makes you who you truly are." She raised her head, eyes locked in a death-like stare. Anger truly was in her eyes, but it was all for him. She turned around and pushed him away with her hand. Flying across the room Loki hit the wall smiling, as he stood and composed himself she clenched her fists at her side.
"Stay away from me." She angrily said. Loki began to laugh menacingly. Walking off the damage she'd just caused him. The wall where he'd hit had begun to crack. She turned sideways in defence, keeping her distance from him.
"You don't need to be afraid of me" He said confidently, "I can help you." she poised herself and held her head high as she replied,
"I was never afraid of you. And I don't need your help not anymore." Loki gave a small sigh as she began to gather her things into a bag. He watched as she threw her old clothes back into a bag and did nothing but smile evilly. She kept her eye on him as she packed her things. He watched her intently, still and silent. She finally zipped up the bag and headed for the door.
"There's nothing for you out there? Do you really think your father would want you back after all that you said to him?" Loki began to taunt her, with his games. "Do you think that you can hide who you are now that I have seen the real you." Sarah scoffed as he blocked her way, staring down at her with his piercing eyes.
"You don't know the first thing about me... and you never will."
Loki took her by the throat, tightening his grip so hard that it caused her to drop her bag and fight for breath. Sarah grabbed hold of his hand that held her by the neck and tried to loosen his grip, so she could breathe.
"You think that you can just walk away from this." He seethed, "To walk away from everything I've shown you... you cannot think that I will let you go after everything I've taught you." Loki's words made Sarah snap, to the point that in that split second, she was able to gather her strength to raise her hand and punch him in the face. It loosened his grip and Sarah twisted his arm back and kicked him out of her way.
"You taught me nothing but hatred... You are the monster I heard so much about, who deep down... is just a sad and lonely little boy, unloved by everyone and everything and THAT'S why you will always be a villain... and is why you will always lose." Sarah's confidence grew as she stood up and confronted the man who had used her and used the truth and twisted it to lie to her. Picking her bag back up off the floor she walked past Loki, but was stopped as she suddenly fell to the floor and was dragged by her feet and thrown into the air. Hitting the wall next to the window, causing both the window and the wall to crack, Sarah hit the floor with a thud. Loki held her broken body and pulled her up, holding her against the wall next to the broken window.
"Do you think that because you are a child, that I wouldn't hurt you." Sarah felt the cold off the window and her breathing began to quicken, as she looked down to the streets below. When suddenly out of nowhere, something caused the glass on all the windows to break all around them, causing the two of them both to dive out of the way. Sarah screamed as she fell to the floor, hearing bullets and explosions until sudden silence. She heard footsteps amongst the broken glass and slowly began to raise her head as she heard a familiar voice.
"No...She's my daughter and we both know she's stronger than you." Sarah's mouth dropped in a shocked but surprised way when she saw her father standing in front of the broken window. Captain America standing with shield in hand. She gasped as he smiled at her and reached down to offer his hand out to her and pulled her up into his embrace.
Loki began to get to his feet, before crowing
"The man out of time." Steve kept Sarah tightly by his side and wrapped her in his arm as he conversed with the enemy.
"I'm not the one who's out of time anymore... It's over Loki." Loki fumbled his hands down into the side of his cloak and drew out his sword. Steve pushed Sarah to the side out of the way as he raised his shield.
"We'll see about that." Loki crowed again as the two men suddenly threw themselves at each other and began to fight. Sarah watched as her captor and father fought, clanging and grunting had begun to be repetitive as they gave each other cuts and bruises each time they struck one another.
"You think you can defeat me... I AM A GOD!"." Loki yelled out in anger, Steve dropped his shield and raised his guard, Sarah gave a gasp as the vibranium shield echoed around the room.
"I could do this all day you know." Was all that Steve replied with, before Loki threw his sword to the ground and mirrored Steve's position. Sarah took a deep breath as both men began to violently strike each other. Sarah circled around them as they both swung for the other, it was frightening for her to watch her father being thrown around and beaten horribly. Steve wrestled him to the floor, and Loki had almost given up that was until Steve got in close enough. Close enough for Loki to plunge his dagger deep into his side. Steve wretched as he fell off Loki and on to the floor,
"NOOOOOOOO!" Sarah screamed as she saw Loki's hand pull the knife out of Steve's side. His hand now dripping with blood, he looked over to her with evil piercing eyes and stood straight with a triumphant look to his posture. Sarah's breathing began to quicken in anger as she stared Loki down.
"Now you are like me...alone and without family."
"GET DOWN" yelled an echoing voice from outside, as she dropped she heard bullets flying past her. She heard multiple footsteps racing into the room, it was the Avengers. They had shot Loki down and surrounded him.
"She isn't alone... and she will be again." Sam said, through the noise of the quinjet blaring. Nat smiled and took her arm pulling her up from the floor. Her eyes drifted over to her father as Sam and Barton approached him. Sarah raced and pushed past them both and knelt by his side.
"Dad." She softly said as she held his head in her hand. Steve's eyes fluttered open as he mumbled, "Sharon?" he opened his eyes just enough to realise it was his daughter shaking her head in response,
"No dad... It's me, it's Sarah." She stroked his cheek delicately with her fingers. He gave a small smile before his eyes began to close. "Dad? DAD!" she cried as Nat pulled her away for Sam and Barton to lift him up and race him out onto the jet. Sarah's mind went fuzzy, she couldn't think all she could hear was Nat's voice,
"Tony we're gonna need medical teams ready when we get back... his vitals are dropping fast."