Nyla rested her head against the smooth metal wall with a groan. Her whole body ached in pain and all she wanted to do was sleep, but she very well couldn't with the images of the fight being burned into her mind and keeping her from drifting off.

Tony's beams clashing against Steve's shield.

Wanda tossing things around in the air as Pietro dodged them haphazardly.

Natasha and Clint trading heavy blows with each other.

Seeing how furious her mom was and then watching as she emerged from the ruins of the control tower that Vision had taken down with an expression that Nyla couldn't make out. The Quinjet had soared into the air seconds later and with Tony and Rhodes giving chase, Nyla knew the game was up.

"The rest of us aren't getting out of here."

"As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it."

And they did.

When Secretary Ross showed up with guards by the dozen, none of them hesitated to surrender. They didn't need to fight anymore, but the only spark of controversy that riled the team Steve had gathered up in anger was when a guard clamped a heavy black collar around Wanda's neck.

It had taken the whole of Ross's crowd to subdue Pietro and even the "opposing" team had tried to do something as they rushed her into a separate vehicle and driven off. Nyla-Rose hadn't seen the young woman since, but she could tell her mom was extremely bothered by the treatment of Wanda. Natasha had watched the guards carefully as they restrained Nyla and the last thing she'd seen was the face full of worry that she wished she could apologize to.

The cells they'd been assigned were shaped in a circle and through the thick, steel bars she could see Clint across the dark room, his palms flat against the wall and his head hung low. That's when she heard the hiss of a door opening and the click of footsteps.

Clint began to clap.

"The Futurist, gentlemen! The Futurist is here! He sees all! He knows what's best for you, whether you like it or not," Clint mocked Tony as he stepped into the light.

Nyla slowly pushed herself to her feet. The wariness that gathered in her chest was sliced with guilt as she realized that she didn't trust Tony's intentions of being present.

She wished she didn't feel that way.

"Give me a break, Barton," Tony started, sounding irked, "I had no idea they'd put you here. Come on."

"Yeah, well, you knew they'd put us somewhere, Tony."

"Yeah, but not some super-max ocean floating pokey. You know, this place is for maniacs. This is a place for..."

"Criminals?"

Nyla watched, her heart cracking as Clint moved closer to the bars with an irate expression on his face.

"Criminals, Tony. Think that's the word you're looking for. Right? That didn't used to mean me. Or Sam or Wanda. Hell, you even got Rosie locked up and she's only a kid! But, here we are."

"Because you all broke the law."

Clint began to sing, drowning out Tony.

"You read it, you broke it. Alright, you're all grown up, you got a wife and kids. I don't understand, why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side?"

"You gotta watch your back with this guy. There's a chance he's gonna break it."

He began to make his way around the prison, snarking at Scott before pausing at Sam's cell.

They exchanged feverish whispers and before Nyla knew it, Tony was standing right in front of her. He looked apologetic for her situation, but she didn't want him to feel sorry for her. It was her choice. The sudden thought of Wanda being taken away in that shock collar with a miserable look on her face made an unfamiliar surge of dislike grow for the man on the other side of her bars.

Tony could see it.

The way her eyes, usually so soft and warm, sharpened dramatically, her chin raising a few inches higher and the solemn way her jaw stiffened.

"Rosie...you were never meant to be apart of this mess," Tony murmured. He was angry at Steve for dragging the young woman into something that didn't concern her.

"I don't care, Tony. We're your family. We were supposed to stay together," Nyla said insistently. Tony scoffed at her ignorance, clearly not in the mood to deal with the innocence of which Nyla-Rose unconsciously emitted. There were things she just wouldn't understand.

"Right. That's why you decided to betray your mom and run off with Captain Sparkle Pants. Like mother, like daughter."

Nyla looked away, a ball of anxiety wound tightly in her stomach as Tony began to make his way back to the steel door when he stopped in his tracks. 

Nyla-Rose didn't think anything could hurt her more than the thought of all the people she loved clashing against each other. But, Tony was an expert at hitting where it hurt and his next words not only pierced straight through her heart and sent waterfalls of tears down her face, it shifted the loving perspective that she had for him into cold hatred.

"You're not your mom, Nyla-Rose...if you can even call her that."

Curse words by the plenty were the only thing that followed Tony out, but none of them came out of Nyla's mouth. It was Clint and Sam who came to her defense, not caring that all they had to shout at was a steel door as long as their point got across:

Tony would not be forgiven for that comment.

When it died down, Clint peered through the bars of his cell anxiously, making out Nyla-Rose sitting erect on the metal bench, her eyes seeing nothing as she stared at the wall.

"Rosie?" He called out to her. She blinked and shook away the last of her tears, turning to answer him, but not quite knowing how.

"Don't listen to him, Rose. He's just an asshole."

"He's right," Nyla sniffed, "I'm not my mom. But, everyone expects me to be."

"Nobody expects that from you, girl," Sam chimed in gently. "Nyla, you're your own unique person. Don't you remember what Bucky said at the terminal?"

Despite the fact that Sam couldn't see her, she nodded.

"Listen, Nyla-Rose. Your mom loves you more than anything in the world. She would want you to live the life you want to live. Be the kind of person you want to be. Don't let Tony poison your mind, Ny. You know how he is with his words."

Clint didn't know what else to say after that, but the silence that followed couldn't mean anything good. He didn't want to push the matter any further because he was well aware of how she was with emotional outbursts-meaning they usually turned into an insatiable thirst for violence on her part.

"Rosie?"

"I'm fine. Thanks, guys."

Although there was something clearly off about her oh-so-cheery response, Clint sighed in relief.

"I love you guys a lot, ya know?"

"We love you, too, Rosie."

"You got that right."

"Yeah. I love you guys, too."

All three of them turned to the forgotten Scott whose face was squeezed between the bars with a goofy smile.

"Got some love for you, too, Tic-Tac."

"Love you, too, Scott," Nyla giggled and as everyone turned away to cope with their own thoughts, her smile faded and a stray tear slipped down to her chin. The only thing she could think about was something she never dared try to imagine. There was never any need, but the way Tony had said it, the way his voice so viciously worded a question that she never knew she wanted to know the answer to.

It was too much.

It was a forbidden thought, one she couldn't help thinking once the wheels started turning.

Whose daughter was she?

—————

"Get your hands off of her!"
"She needs to be safe..."

"Destined for more.."
"Please. I beg of you."

A little girl with dark curls and chocolate brown eyes filled with tears huddled into a dark corner, her arms hugging her knees close to her chest.

"Nyla! Baby, where are you?!"

"Mommy!"

The little girl reached out expectantly as a pair of slim arms emerged from the dark only to recoil with a wail. The arms were attached to a body that was attached to a face that the little girl did not know. Where the once smooth skin of her mother was, soft wrinkles creased here and there. Where the red of her hair once shone brilliantly, a pale silver color took its place and then the eyes...they weren't the green the little girl knew. They were a waterish blue, a color faded with time and mixed with the telltale signs of old age.

"You're not my mommy." The little girl sobbed, rocking back and forth and clutching her hair furiously. The woman slowly bent down on one knee and gently laid a hand on the little girl's head. As if by magic, the crying began to subside as the girl looked up at the woman in wonder.

"You'll be safe here."
"Who can I trust?"

"We'll be back for her."
"I promise."

"Sefina.."

—————

The sound of screeching metal made Nyla wake with a start and she practically tumbled off the bench in her scramble to identify the unknown sound. When it stopped, she swore she could hear the fast pace beating of her heart and Nyla watched from the shadows of her cell as Steve stepped into the light, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

"Rosie..."

"Steve...took you long enough."

"Huh. Thought I was on time."

"You never are."

"Right. Let's get you guys out of here."