I heard the guards talking and I thought I was back in my cell with SHIELD but then I opened my eyes and remembered.

The cuffs were digging into my skin causing it to redden and tear.

There were too many drugs in my system designed to linger in my bloodstream. The thing is that due to my powers I had a slightly increased metabolism and that meant that I quickly burned through whatever entered my system. Hence why I need larger doses of pain meds or cold medicine.

These specific drugs were meant to slow down my metabolism thus slowing me down.

The effects were wearing off and suddenly I could sense everybody that had blood running through their veins. I could sense their heartbeats and hear the rush of blood. It was maddening.

Two guards were stationed outside my door.

Their heartbeats were unnaturally steady.

Light entered into my cell teaching up to my boots. I looked up half dazed as one of the guards brought me my meal. For a prisoner the door wasn't so bad, it was decent. Today they brought me soup with a loaf of bread. I guess Raza was feeling generous.

However, I didn't care for the food.

I closed my eyes, focusing on the the guards heartbeat. Without a single ounce of regret, I stopped it. He sputtered as he gasped for breath and I heard his body hit the floor. I should've felt remorse but all I could think of was getting out of here.

I moved quickly on the the next one.

Raising my hand, I made him to stop moving. I didn't kill him. I needed him to tell me how to escape. What scared me was how cold and merciless it was. All I could think was I had to get out of here. I dragged the body of the first guard into cell, grabbing the keys on his belt.

"Exit. Now. Move." I said coldly, letting him go.

He collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath as he clutched his neck. I saw him reaching for his gun. Before he could touch it, i snapped his hand back with a wave of my hand which resulted in a sickening crunch. He screamed as he doubled over his hand in pain. I lunged at him, clamping my hand over his mouth.

The last thing I would need is more guards.

"Pull anymore tricks like that and I'll kill you." I grabbed the gun from his holster and pointed it at him. "Got that?"

He nodded, getting up to his knees.

"I'll show you," he begged, tears in his eyes. "Just please don't kill me."

"That depends.......what's your name?" I asked as we approached a set of stairs. He walked ahead, slightly hunched over as he cradled his hand.

"Saraf." He said, more like sobbed. "I have a mother and two sisters. Please. I'm all they have left."

I pressed the barrel of the gun into his back more firmly making his breath hitch.

He didn't look that old more like around seventeen or eighteen. Actually, he was about my age when I joined my father's organization. This poor sucker, I wonder who swindled him into this gig. They probably offered him money and positions and like all naive boys he must have accepted once he saw what he could earn.

"Just show me how to get out of here and we'll debate your fate later, kid." I growled into his ear. "Find me a route. Little to no cameras and few guards."

"Okay!" Saraf said, his heartbeat accelerating as he led me to a storage area.

We passed several hallways and doors to get here. This kid clearly knew his shit. SHIELD would've had a field day with this kid. It would be a shame if I had to kill him.

He led me to a hallway which lead into a garage of cars.

"You know how to drive?" I asked him.

"Yes."

"Good. You're driving." I said, pushing him towards a jeep with the gun.

"What?" He asked, clearly confused to why I was taking him. "But....my hand...."

Maybe it would be logical to leave him here and maybe it would be smart to kill him but the kid was way too young to die. I considered this giving him a second chance. Now only if he didn't question me. Or annoy me.

"Get in, Saraf. If you don't, you'll be worrying about just more than your hand." I shoved him into the drivers seat and quickly climbed into shotgun. "Just keep driving and whatever you do, don't look back."

"What happens if I look back?" He asked nervously as he clutched his injured hand.

"They'll probably shoot your brains out." I said as I crouched underneath the seats.

Saraf fumbled with the keys I tossed him as he blubbered out a response. I could feel sorry for this guy later, right now I had to get back to SHIELD. He moved passed the guards with no flaws. I thought he was going to shit himself but he held through. Perhaps there is hope for him afterall.

"How far do I drive?" Saraf asked me as I climbed back into shotgun. I looked through the glove box looking for a first aid kit that I desperately needed.

"Where's the nearest town and how much gas do we have left?"

"It's a small village, not too far from here." he said. "It should have a bar that has a landline."

"Good." I lifted my hands, inspecting my wrists. I started to apply some salve to cool down my burning raw skin and then started to wrap them in bandages. "Just keep driving and don't ask questions."

"You're not pointing the gun at me." I wasn't sure if that was a statement or a question because I was too busy lifting up my shirt so that I could press some gauze against a gash on my side. I hissed as the gauze made contact with my wound but all that concerned me was to stop the bleeding. Seraf looked at me with concern and then quickly looked away.

"Why did you join those assholes?" I asked through gritted teeth. "I don't think you wanted this job."

"I needed the money."

He kept his eyes on the road as he rigidly gripped the steering wheel. He must have been scared shitless because his knuckles were bloodless and white. Not only did help a prison lot escape but he left the organization that would give him money in exchange for his services. Most people would be dead men walking. It's not easy to turn away from an organization. Assuming he was smart, he looked like he was thinking of ways to run away.

"Don't we all."

----------

I looked like shit.

I didn't have to look in the mirror, the way that people stared at me. I just escaped from a secure facility and killed a guy. It didn't help either that I had a young boy who was shook down to the bone.

The bar I walked into was like any seedy bar, it always was. That was one thing the movies got right. Patrons eyed Saraf and I as both of us walked past them to the bartender. I glared at them telling them to mind their own business. Saraf was in front me as I stayed close to him. What people didn't  see was the knife that I had pressed against his lower back.

"Ask the bartender for the phone."

Saraf took in a deep breath and asked the bartender. He spoke pretty good German, making only a few grammatical errors. The bartender looked us up and down like we were idiots and handed us a landline. He said one more thing that sounded like an insulting statement that made Saraf blubber out a sheepish reponse.

"Here."

I took the phone from his hand dialing a set of numbers that I had made sure to memorize.

"Hello?" He answered after three rings. "Who is this? This is a private government number. How did you get this?"

"Mountain. Artpop. Yellow. Artpop." I saw as Saraf looked at me bewilderingly from the corner of my eyes.

"Maya?!" Agent Richards said too loudly. I visibly winced pulling the receiver away from my ear.

"Snow. Honda. Uranium. Tulsa. Uranium. Paraguay." I fired out.

"Right. Sorry. Where are you? Wait! Don't say it over the phone, I'll have the team track you down." I sighed loudly, counting to ten. "How are you?"

How was I?

If he was in front of me I would've have shouted so loudly saying that I was not fucking okay and not only was I an inch from death but I just spent about a month being tortured so that my deranged father could unlock the secret to my blood so that he could create a mother fucking army to take over the world!

Again!

Oh yeah. I was sooooo fucking great!

Instead, I took a deep breath and said: "Orca. Kenya. Artpop. Yellow."

"Who's with you?" He asked.

"Soy. Elizabeth. Rainbow. Artpop. Freddy."

"Saraf? Is he helping you? One click for yes, two for no."

Click.

"Are you in a safe location?"

Click.

"Stay put. We'll find you. We promise."

The line cut off. I handed the phone back to the bartender and turned around to look at Saraf who looked like he was going to faint.

"Whatever you do, don't faint." I said to him as I sat down in a booth, leaning up against the bar.

"I'm trying not to." He said. "What will happen to me?"

"Just say your an old friend of mine who helped me escape. Maybe they'll incarcinate you or maybe they'll set you up with a new gig. Who knows?"

"I don't feel very reassured."

"Pity." I said suddenly seeing black spots. "I think I'm gonna faint. By the way, I'm really sorry about your hand."

Then I felt the world tilt as everything around me went black.

-------

My dreams were never pleasant but once in a while I'd find myself having a pleasant dream. It was always about Seattle, before the gangs and before the streets. There was one thing I remembered distinctly was my house. It was a three story brick townhouse located in the outskirts of Seattle. I always remembered being mom annoyed about the fact that there was never a garden in front. Mom always brought potted plants that died in the winter.

This was pleasant dream, indeed.

I knew I was awake because I didn't feel cold. It was too warm underneath the blankets I was under. My body ached all over and I wanted to just curl up into a tiny ball. I rolled over, groaning into the pillow wishing that my body would stop trying to kill itself.

"Maya." Someone called my name. I opened my eyes, letting my vision adjust.

Oh gods, I wanted to throw up.

I bolted up and grabbed a bowl on the nightstand, promptly emptying my nonexistent stomach contents into it. Hands grabbed my hair holding it back for me. I didn't care if they were touching me, I felt like death was laughing at me. I collapsed into my bed, weakly throwing an arm over my eyes.

"I feel like shit."

"Language!"

"Language?" I scoffed as I turned to that person. "Really, Steve? You've cursed way more than me-"

"Who's Steve?" My mother asked as she looked at me.

It's been five years and time has been kind to my mother. Her blonde hair shined like spun gold, stark contrast to my own darker hair and her skin still retained some of its vigor but her baby blue eyes looked aged as if they had seen enough for this lifetime.

Aged eyes, we both seemed to share that.

At school I remembered that  was teased that I looked nothing like my mom causing people to think I was adopted. They didn't know that I had inherited everything from my dad. I didn't even know who my dad was at the time but I started to resent him for petty reasons like vanity.

The light brown skin, the dark hair, the brown eyes. They always felt more like a curse than a gift to me.

I hated the way I looked because I couldn't fit in with the others.

I sat up quickly, ignoring my pain. I gawked as I stared at my mother. I opened my mouth to form coherent sentences but closed it because I didn't know what to say exactly.

So I settled for this: "Hey, mom."

"Maya Charlotte Anwar." she said in a clipped voice. "Where the hell have you been for five years?!"

I suppose this is where we were suppose to have a touching moment but let's be realistic, that shit happens only in fiction. Right now my mom was furious, pacing and yelling at me I took a sip of water nonchalantly. I didn't even stop her, I let her continue because she had every right to be mad at me.

"No calls. No letters. No contact whatsoever!" Mom counted off on her fingers. "Do you know how long I spent chasing SHIELD agents down just so that they could tell me where the hell my daughter was?! The last time we saw each other, you went off on that mission!"

She sat down for a second, face flaming red as her eyes burned a furious and wild blue. Man, she was pissed.

"Do you even know where they found you?! They found you in some backwater bar in some town in Austria. Austria! What the hell were you doing beaten half to death in Austria?!"

I let her get it out of her system. Even though my life was a bitch, I was happy to see her.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I know. I was an idiot. I hurt you and I hurt myself."

It was a shit apology but I didn't know what else to say. I set the water down before she ripped me a new one.

Instead, she was touching my face with her hands. I'd forgotten what that felt like to have someone hold you. I didn't pull away from her touch, I found myself leaning into her palm for warmth.

"I'm so sorry, Maya." She said, staring into my eyes. "I failed you, didn't I?"

Feeling that I kept hidden bubbled up to the surface manifesting themselves as bitter and salty tears. Soon they streamed down my cheeks as dripping on the blanket.

"Don't be melodramatic. It's okay, mom," I hesitated, taking a shaky breath of air into my lungs. "You have no idea. I missed you so, so much."

"I searched everywhere for you," She said, wiping away my tears as well as hers. "I thought that you had died, Maya." She broke down in tears promptly and hugged me tightly. I didn't pull away from her, I hugged her right back without even a moment of hesitation.

What she didn't know was that I had asked SHIELD to not allow any contact between us. Her tears were because of me and I felt the weight of those tears. I didn't want her to see what I had become. She'd seen enough, I didn't want to be another failure to her. I didn't want her to see what my father did to me.

I didn't have the heart to say all that.

"I'm here. I'm safe. It's okay, mom." Instead a said that.

We stayed like that for a while. I had even forgotten what she smelled like. She smelled of Lilac, like the ones she bought during the summer.

"I'm sorry," she sniffed as she pulled away. "I'm just happy that you're okay."

"Why are you sorry? You didn't do nothing wrong."

"Look at you, Maya. You're covered in bandages like a mummy."

I rolled my eyes.

"Who brought me here, anyway?" I asked, looking around. The last time I was conscious I was in a shady bar with Saraf. "Shouldn't I be at a SHIELD facility?"

"I asked them to send you here." she said. I could hear the angry tone underling her voice.
Mom hated SHIELD with a passion and I didn't blame her. "Maya, I have bad news and good news," she said as she passed me a glass of water and painkillers.

"Start with the bad news first," I requested. I tilted my head back as I swallowed the pain killers. "You just have to rip off the bandage when it come to bad news. "

"The person who tried to take you back was-"

"Amid, I know. I can't he's alive," I said darkly. "Dad is, too."

"That man is not your father. Not anymore. He is a monster."

"No dip." I scoffed. "Mom, what about Amid? Or Mimi?"

"He escaped." She looked frustrated. "SHIELD should have caught him and let me knock some sense into that thick head of his. Mimi's as well."

"We both know that they're both beyond that," I said. "There's no hope for them. Not anymore. I'm sorry. I wish......."

Taking a deep breath in, I swallowed the remainder of that sentence. She didn't need to hear my wishes. I could see that it broke her heart knowing that she almost lost one child and completely lost the others. I squeezed her fingers, letting her know that she was okay.

"Do you want to hear the good news?" I nodded. I needed something to be hopeful about. "You're healing at a steady rate. It's gonna take awhile but you should be fine."

"That's great," I smiled. "That means that I can go back to New York........"

My smile faded quickly as my words faded between us.

Mom saw the look in my face.

"Why would you want to go back to New York? You can stay with me here. Isn't.....isn't that what you want, Maya?" Mom asked me in a confused tone as her face fell as well, her British accent more dominant. "To come home?"

"Mom, I love you and I'm so happy that I could see you after all these years but-"

"You've made a life in New York." She finished for me. I nodded solemnly. "I understand. All these years on your own and poof! Here you are. I suppose it isn't fair for me to keep you here just because I missed you."

"Mom-"

"You don't have to say anything," she ran her fingers through my hair. "I know about your SHIELD. I don't like them but I know your duties to them and I will not get in the way. However, I want you to promise me that I won't lose my daughter again. I don't think I could bear it. I've lost your older brother and sister. I've lost my marriage. I've lost everything but you. I can't lose you too."

"You're not going losing me, mom." I pulled away and looked her in the eyes.

"I know but I still worry," she smiled as she pushed some strands of hair out of my face. "I'll let you rest and then we'll get you back to SHIELD. Your teammates must be worried sick about you."

I nervously laughed as I doubted that statement. They probably didn't even notice I was gone. I'm not particularly close to the Avengers, they're more just like partners. Half of them didn't like me but I don't know what else to do.

There was that bad feeling followed by that bitter taste again.

"Mom?" I said.

"Yes?"

"I......I want to resign from SHIELD."

"Why?" Was all she asked.

"Because I realized no matter what I do and no matter how much I want to , I'll always be seen as a monster go them. I don't want to go through that again. I want to come back home." I said.

"Maya Charlotte Anwar." She said, crossly. "Your powers are just a small part of you, they do not define the type of person you are." I was about to protest but she placed her finger on my lips, silencing me. "The world will always puts a label on you, either you are good or you are bad. The world will judge and it is your duty to say to them that the only person who had the right to judge me is me. Nobody else. You are Maya, not Rose Red. You are my daughter, not his. You are an Avenger, not a pawn in anyone game."

"But even the Avengers don't accept me." I said. I probably sounded like a little kid on the playground. "How can I accept myself?"

"They do not determine your worth. What about you, little bird? I know what I'm worth" Mom smiled, more like smirked. "Why don't you march back to New York and show those Avenger's your worth?"

A/N: Yes, darlings. That would be the famous Reese Witherspoon I have used as a face claim for Emilia Crowley, Maya's mother in this story. Considering all the facts Reese Witherspoon aged rather gracefully in my opinion.