I drummed my fingers anxiously against the arms of the chair. I couldn't reach out to any of my friends. They had no idea where I was. I had no idea where I was.

I was given light from the window on the door. This was what I had woken up to after I had dozed off. I heard voices on the other side, but they were so low I couldn't make out any words.

I closed my eyes. If there was ever a time I needed my other power to work, now would be the ideal time. Guys, I'm sorry for whatever's about to happen. I caused this. Whoever survives and rescues me, you can chew me out for this. S.H.I.E.L.D. can put me on threat watch or cage me up like an animal. Hell, I can even ask Thor to throw me into Asgardian prison when it's possible. I never wanted this to happen.

I felt the guilty tears stream down my face. There was no way I could prevent this. I couldn't undo any of this. I could never forgive myself if anyone died, whether it be strangers or Tony, or Bruce, or Steve, or Natasha, or Clint, or Todd...

I seized my fists up. Whatever serum Seth had given me had to have reduced my strength too. These restraints shouldn't be able to hold me back. These shouldn't be able to keep me down.

I screamed in outrage.

"Crazy bitch," I heard a voice say. "Good thing she's gonna be put down."

"Why can't we just do it now? We're here, she's in there," said another voice. "She can't do anything."

Normally, I would fear for my life, but right now, I was so mad that I wasn't. Crazy bitch, huh? Do they realize that they're working for one?

"No, they said to keep her alive," said Voice One. "We'll lose our lives if we take hers."

"There's always the chance we can make it—"

"They're not stupid, they would know it was one of us. Besides, how could you stage that to be suicide?"

I stomped my feet on the ground impatiently like a rabid animal. Come on, if there was ever a time I wanted this serum to fail, now would be the opportune moment. Give me a sign, someone. Anything.

"What was that?" said Voice Two.

I picked my head up at hearing guns click. Was someone here for me?

Gunfire outside my room confirmed it.

"Here!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "I'm in here!"

"Don't let them reach her!" shouted Voice One.

The door to my room shot open, hitting the wall with a loud bang, and the owner of Voice Two came barreling in. She was a stern-faced, middle-aged woman, with auburn hair in a tight bun. She spun around to aim the gun at the open doorway, where thanks to that, louder gunfire could reach my ears.

"I'm in here!" I cried out in pain as the woman struck me across the face with the butt of her gun. I glared at her malevolently as she placed the barrel of the gun on my forehead.

"One more word, and your brains are on the walls," she threatened darkly. She and I exchanged in a silent death stare contest. I heaved in breaths, debating on whether or not to call the woman's bluff. But this shot could kill you. Seth could've made you humanly vulnerable now.

My lips scrunched into an ugly frown as the woman kept the gun on my forehead.

I shrunk away when she suddenly keeled over. An arrow was lodged in her back. Oh my Gods. I looked up, and I couldn't have been happier to see familiar faces.

"Get me out of these," I said hastily as Clint came lithely in.

"Ow, damn it!" Clint hissed as his hands came into contact with one of the restraints. I looked at him strangely, and I looked down to see the restraints had melted away. Both of them. I looked down at my wrists. "What kind of sick technology is that?" He shook his hands, trying to cool them off.

"Kiara!" came a new voice.

"Todd!" I exclaimed, nearly falling over as my best friend embraced me. "Y-you're here, a-and out of training..."

"Clint told me what happened and requested I join the search party," he said breathlessly, pushing stray bangs out of his eyes. "It wasn't easy to find you, or get to you."

"Y-yeah, I could hear. Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"Gee, guys, thanks for asking if I was okay," Clint joked bluntly.

I made a noise. "Are your hands okay?"

"What happened with his hands?" asked Todd.

"I got them burnt trying to get her restraints off," said Clint. "Great, those'll splinter."

"Wait, the restraints burnt you?" Todd tilted his head, looking at me quizzically. I saw the thoughts churning in his head. "Wait a minute...Kiara, your powers might be back."

"What? How?" I said.

"Well, if the restraints were set to burn, if you tried to move, they probably would've burned you, right?"

"But she has something in her system that prevents her powers from working," Clint insisted.

"What if it's wearing off?" Todd said. "What if Cynder is back in business?"

I looked down at my hands. I could feel a slight warmth in my veins again. I cried out in elation when I could gain a small flame in my hand. "No way!"

"Talk about timing," Clint said.

"How long have I been missing, you guys?" I looked between Clint and Todd.

"Two days."

"Two days?" I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Okay, give me the rundown of what I've missed."

"That facility you, Rogers, and Tasha went to try and gain evidence from, it's ash. If Seth and Kasey didn't take anything with them, it's gone now."

I shook my head. "Not possible. Kasey was talking about something big. Something about taking the fight to S.H.I.E.L.D. They're probably mobile. Whatever they plan to do, they're either doing it right now or they're not far away from doing it."

"Did she monologue and spill the plan to you?" asked Todd.

"Bits and pieces. The guy who helped abduct me, he's going to be part of it. It's the one who escaped us in Chicago," I clarified to Clint. "He's still alive. I'm not sure how. And Kasey didn't directly say it, but, whatever she's leading, it's an army."

"An army of fire wielders?" Todd asked.

I pursed my lips. "It's possible."

"Did she say where she was going to hit?"

"Not a word."

"Come on, we'll figure it out once we get out of here."

With guidance from both of the men, we left my room. I tested small sparks in the palm of my hand. I seemed in control so far. My power wasn't at full capacity, that much I could feel.

As we rounded a corner, Todd engaged one of the guards and knocked them out easy. Clint, with blistered hands thanks to me, managed to take down two more guards who had tried to shoot at us from afar. I did none of the dirty work.

We reached the rooftop of the facility, and the heat blasted us all, giving us a shock to our system. The sunlight bounced off our transportation. We climbed inside the jet.

"Pull up any live news feeds," I demanded. "If Kasey and Seth are carrying something out, we'll see it."

While Clint went to the front of the jet to get it started up, Todd went to a screen elsewhere, pulling up all current events. I hovered over his shoulder, eyes scanning for anything that would give us a location. Can anyone hear me? My powers are back online. I'm alive, I've been rescued. Something's coming.

"Wait, wait, there!" I pointed.

Todd caught the same thing I did, clicking onto a live video feed. I wasn't listening to the reporter, all I cared about was what I was witnessing, what Todd was witnessing.

"Where are we currently, Clint?" I yelled to the front of the plane.

"Some abandoned facility in New Jersey. Why?"

"It's starting." My mouth dropped open. "And it looks like Kasey is trying to take out the Pentagon."

On our screen, powered people, with their hands aglow with fire, took out cars, scared people off the streets. All the police cars and S.W.A.T. teams, all the FBI and CIA, they seemed like they did little damage. I cringed as an FBI car shot up into the air, coming down in a heap of fire.

"Hang on back there!" Clint shouted. I grabbed onto the back of Todd's chair as Clint got us in the air. "Is any of the team there?"

"Not that we can see, no," Todd reported.

"There!" I said, pointing to the screen. He wasn't flying at the speed of light, but we could recognize the Iron Man suit anywhere in the air. I stepped back in horror as the camera feed wobbled violently and then suddenly went black. I closed my eyes, trying to not think about the possibilities. "How long until we get there, Clint?"

"Under an hour. If I gun it, I can make it a half hour."

"Make it the half hour. See if you can get a hold of anyone."

"You try the same."

I rubbed my temples, pacing in the jet. Someone just answer me. Please. We're coming to help. I hoped S.H.I.E.L.D. was directing the scared civilians out of the way while trying to engage Kasey's army. My blood boiled at the thought of her.

She was going to be mine to take down when we got there.

"You up for this?" I asked Todd as he spun himself around in the chair to face me.

He looked troubled. "Why not? I just helped Hawkeye jailbreak you. This should be nothing." He sounded like he was convincing himself more than me with his words.

I snorted, patting his shoulder. "Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D., Todd."

**YES. Clint and Todd to the rescue, woo! And our girl Kia seems to be back online with her powers!

Who's ready to kick some non-alien ass?**