"Are you even hearing yourself right now? This is why we believe you're fully competent for this initiative. Whatever you've gone through has been training you for these moments. You don't ever stop fighting, there's always another threat. A threat...
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I stared into the wall of the quinjet with eyes glazed over. My mind was not relenting over the sick mind trick that the girl played on me, played on us all. I fidgeted with my bottom lip, pulling and prodding the fragile skin as I tried to get the horrid vision out of my mind.
The image of my father's floating body, streaming with the brilliant, purple glow was imprinted onto the back of my eyelids. No matter how much I blinked or rubbed my wary eyes, the gleam only prevailed. I had been beginning to come to terms with my father's death. The death of the only and most important person in my life. Now that I was forced to revisit the worst day I had ever experienced, the heavy shadow had only been draped back over my weak shoulders even tighter.
Other that the dreadful image of his deteriorating body that made me question whether he truly went to Elysian Plains, his words had not stopped rattling around my aching head. They stabbed my heart endlessly due to the vision pushing me into my worst nightmare, my father being disappointed in me, that I hadn't done enough to save him. Only I had, I gave everything to protect him over the years, I poured myself into every Trial to make sure I saw him again, even if I wanted to do nothing more than give up.
Those words weren't the main taking of my thoughts though. What he said about that stone, the Power Stone as he called it, the cause of Tartarus' rise. He said that our failure to destroy the actual stone will be the demise of the universe. But what is its importance? Why is it so powerful? Are there other stones? Stones that will aid the Power Stone in destroying us all?
The vision was destroying my mind, tearing it up into shreds between my 'father' and this Power Stone. I was so preoccupied in my painful memories that I hardly noticed the golden light stream through the quinjet's windows as we settled into a small, empty field apart from farm-house and barn.
Thor lent me his hand and helped me get to my feet, forcing me to join back to reality. One by one, we walked the path to the quaint 'safe house' or wherever we were, following Clint as it seemed he knew exactly where we were. With furrowed eyebrows, I stepped onto the porch.
"What is this place?" asked Thor.
"A safe house," I shrugged, barely knowing myself.
"Let's hope so," Clint said as he walked into the house. I followed him in, holding out the wooden door for Stark behind me. I made my way cautiously into the living room, a piano sitting against the wall, covered in little trinkets, the plush sofa's where cluttered with books and toys and the wide kitchen the perfect size for a family.
"Honey?" Clint called out, causing me to look at him in confusion.
"Hi," came a soft voice from a pregnant women in the kitchen, holding dried kid's paintings in her hand.
"Company. Sorry, didn't call ahead," Clint said embracing the women and kissing her head.
I glanced at Steve beside me, both of us just as bewildered as the other.
