Valor ↠ Prequel [0] ✓

02 | What Are You Fighting For?

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VALOR
ii. WHAT ARE YOU FIGHTING FOR?

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   RILEY O'DAIR WAS... WAS... She was... God, Riley was so flustered that she couldn't think of the proper adjective that could describe how she felt. She was... She was pissed, upset, discouraged, disappointed. She was every negative emotion in existence all bottled up into one enraged child.

   Once again, Riley was a failure.

   She hated admitting it almost as much as she hated the feeling of it. Something about the feeling of unsuccess tore her up inside, eating her away to the point where she couldn't sit still until she did something about it.

   She didn't know where she'd gone wrong. One minute, she was creating forcefields around her colleagues (well, she was trying to), and the next, she was cowering beneath the rubble alone. It was just like last year all over again. A complete blur. All Riley could hear amongst the chaos were the explosions. Those stupid explosions. She'd lost control and began to panic — the one thing she was explicitly told in training not to do.

   And of course, out of all the people who could have pulled her out of the field, Natasha Romanoff had been the one to come to her rescue. Again.

   Riley's face contorted with distaste at the thought of the condescending spy. She cranked her fist back, hitting the punching bag in front of her with a loud grunt.

   Weakness was the worst feeling in the world. Worse than bleeding. Worse than concussions. Worse than getting the last pick for weapons in training. She knew she was just a kid, and she tried to let that anchor her. She had years before she could be— no, had to be the best version of herself. Still, was it such a crime to want to be better? That was all Riley wanted. She just wanted to prove that she deserved to be here: alive.

   She desired to prove to the council and Director Fury that they weren't wasting their time with her, to prove to the agents that actually liked her that they had a reason to support her. Above all, she wanted to prove to stupid Natasha Romanoff that she was strong, that she belonged with S.H.I.E.L.D.

   That all felt so far away.

   The council kept hitting Riley with more and more training, which she eagerly threw herself into. She trained all day, every day for weeks and weeks. She strived to become stronger and faster without a complaint.

   She pushed herself so much to the point where Riley wasn't positive why she even bothered anymore. She didn't fully understand why her superiors wanted to keep her around. Were Riley's powers really worth the trouble? After all, turning invisible wasn't going to help anyone but herself. It wasn't like Riley could... shoot beams out of her hands, or something!