The Valiant (The Seventh Avenger)

Chapter 32

"Grace! Grace!" Five letters combined to make one word, one syllable echoes into my mind. "Grace!" 

My eyes squint open only to be closed again from the light. My head feels worse than it did when I had the concussion. I slowly raise my back and bend it over as I rub my hands across my temple and forehead to try to massage the pain away. 

"Grace?" A boy's voice sounds from my right which draws my attention to look through a glass that was built in the wall. I look around the room finally taking in my whole surroundings, my eyes frantically traveling around the room to finally look at the boy.

"Peter? Where are we?" I ask. "Wait, what are you doing here, oh no." I knew this had to have done something with me being The Valient. Peter just looks at me worriedly 

"We're in cells and we've been here for a while," he chuckles, "do you really not remember any of that?" I look over at Peter, fear running through my veins. 

"No, no I don't remember that." His smile disappears just like that. I feel my chest collapse in on itself for making him feel sad. "Wait, what do you mean we've been here for a while? What day is it?" 

"We've been here for at lead a week, Grace, do you seriously not remember any of that?" I shake my head again and rub my hands onto my head when my headache returns. This is a lot for me to take in, why can't I remember it? My gaze travels back up to Peter, his frown goes from realization to fear within seconds. "They're making you forget, they're erasing your memory." 

"Who's they?" 

"I don't know who, but I do remember you talking with a Draven, a Draven...." 

"A Draven Sormien?" I interrupt him and he nods at me, "Hydra." I look down at my wrist and see that my bracelet is missing along with my necklace that had my original Valient pendent on it. "How did we get here?" 

He tells me, he tells me how we were going to see a movie for my birthday, how we got into a car accident, how he called Tony, how we were dragged into vans before taking off. I look over at him as fear begins to prickle its way throughout my body, causing goosebumps to appear on my arms and legs. I summon my flames to appear on my arms but nothing shows, it's as if they're shut off. It's as if everything is shut off, I don't feel the comfort of the strength in my body, I don't feel the warmth from the flames, I just feel empty.  

"How long ago was this?" 

"About three to seven days ago," Peter smiles at me, " You do realize it is kind of hard to tell time when the room is constantly light, the only way I tell time now is how the timing of the meals are, we've been here for at least three days, but I don't know how long we have been missing." I just respond with an "Oh." I don't know how or why I can't remember any of this cause he told me I was here this whole time, could it be true? Could they be erasing my memory? 

I place the palm of my hand against the glass and he follows suit. My hand taps three times against it and he does the same, knowing the meaning behind it. I didn't know how else to do it, nor do I know why I decided to do it now, but it felt like the right time. Butterflies erupted in my stomach when the realization hit me that he responded to it. He responded to me tapping 'I love you.'

The sound of gears causes me to twist around and see Draven Sormien walk in a smirk drawn across his face. Two more men walk into the room behind him and the next thing I know I'm on my feet, taking an athletic position to prepare myself to fight. Draven just tsks at me. 

"My dear, do you truly believe you could overpower us?" He asks and the two men advance towards me, smirking at his comment. They are around my height, but they are double my size in muscle which means I will need to overpower them with speed. One of them reaches for me but I duck out of his grasp and grab onto his hand before flipping him over onto his back, electricity charging sounds behind me and I twist around to see the other man holding a stick with blue sparks traveling up and down it. He pounces towards me but I shuffle out of the way before it hits me. A sudden surge of energy crashes through me and I look down at my hands, expecting my flames to appear, but they don't. The surge is still there and I smile despite my disappointment. The man looks at me fearfully and I charge towards him, slamming his body into the wall as I gaze at him, feeling the hatred in my gaze as the cement walls crumble and crack behind him. 

A scream escapes his lips and I pull my fist back but I hear a fearful breath from my right. "Oh no, oh no, oh no," I continuously mumble under my breath. My gaze travels over to Peter, wide-eyed Peter. My fist goes down and hands wrap around my waist. I get lifted off the ground and something hard and cold gets placed against my head as his hands shift to place me in a chokehold. A small needle goes into my neck before he begins to talk to me. 

"Now, my dear, that type of behavior just won't do," Draven clucks his tongue before continuing. "As I have warned you before, if you step outside of the line then there will be consequences." I look over at Peter knowing that must mean him. "Possibly you may not remember that, but you should have at least have known what will happen." 

"NO!" I scream and try to get released but the energy is gone, the extra strength just disappeared. Men enter in behind Peter and take him. He struggles against them, but they overpower him and dragged him out of the room. My legs act without my command and kick at his knee as I throw my head back and hit him in the nose. Draven stumbles back with blood flowing out of his nose. 

"Careful," Draven says holding up a button, "you wouldn't want your little boyfriend to die, now would you?" My breath gets caught in my lips. My actions determine Peter's life and all I've been doing is provoking them to kill him.  My hands automatically raise in the air, I can't give them more reasons to kill him, I can't let him die before I create a plan to get us out of here.