"That thing is not supposed to be here. It's supposed to be in SHIELD custody." Keira said, pointing towards the rack. Loki's scepter was supposed to be kept safe at one of SHIELD's secret labs, away from the public, and being monitored. It was definitely not meant to be in HYDRA's hands, and yet, here it was.
The scepter was standing upright in the rack, and the gem was glowing brightly in the dim light. Just like she had felt back in the Helicarrier, she couldn't help but feel like she wanted to touch the stone, but at the same time, she was terrified of doing so.
It was like two sides of a coin were fighting within her to win, but it just kept spinning, never landing on a decision. And the light buzzing she had heard back then also seemed to grow the longer she stared at the gem, or maybe that was just her imagination.
Alexandra waved the two agents away, knowing that she was in full control over everything in the room. "Oh, it was in SHIELD custody for a while. They monitored it, and kept it under lock and key, just like they said they would." She threw the mutant a victorious smile. "But thanks to some special contacts, we managed to strike a deal before the scepter was meant to move another home. So now, we have some time to play with it. And you especially, will have a chance to experience it."
Keira's eyes darted from the scepter to the doctor. "Me? What do you mean me?" She asked, her gaze jumping all over the woman's face, trying to get a glimpse of what she meant.
Please, just no more mind control.
If anything more was going to mess with her brain, she'd lose herself completely. She was already trying her hardest to not lose her heart. And after hearing that none of her friends had looked for her, it was hard to find a reason to not shut it all out.
After all, didn't they say that Alice first became happy after falling into the rabbit hole, when she descended into the madness?
"Stand up." Alexandra ordered, not bothering to answer the blonde's question, who did as she was told without hesitation. "Now, I've heard some nasty stories about this scepter. Loki used it to take control over some agents, correct?"
Keira nodded swiftly.
"Well, obviously I don't need the scepter to take control over your mind, as the DRIP does that exceptionally well on its own. However, there have been quite a few accidents with the gem while it was in SHIELD's custody. Which is the reason as to why it was being relocated." The doctor paused to glance at the scepter. "And I wish to see whether or not those rumors are true. Because I believe we can achieve greatness with it, if we find the right way."
Keira gulped. That didn't sound promising. As if anything here ever did. She composed her face into a neutral mask and squared her shoulders, not wanting her insecurity to show. It's not like she would have a choice anyway.
Alexandra got up and left the room without another word, disappearing through a door next to the mirror wall. "Now, Topaz. I want you to touch the gemstone. Just so we can either put a rumor to rest, or prove it right." Her voice echoed through the speakers. Ah, so it was a two-way mirror.
Of course, they wanted her to touch it. Because touching an alien gemstone from outer space couldn't possibly go wrong. And if she interpreted the doctor's previous words correctly, quite a few SHIELD agents had paid with their lives as they had touched it, either by accident or on purpose.
"Yes, ma'am." Keira nodded. She would be lying if she said that a small part of her wasn't excited at the prospect of touching the gem, because she was. But if she took a moment to listen to the logical part of her brain, the part that also held the majority of her thoughts at the moment, she wanted nothing to do with the scepter or the gem, ever again.
Truth be told, it would be best to just lock it away so it could never see the light of day ever again.
However, she did as she was told, slowly stepping towards the scepter, her eyes glued to the glowing gemstone. Keira stretched out a hand and to her surprise, she saw that she was trembling slightly. It seemed like her body was as conflicted as her mind.
Would this be the end of her? Killed by a stone? What a tragic and ironic end it would be to her story. But if she was being honest with herself, she felt a small wave of relief at the prospect of death. She had made her peace with it some time ago. With her life looking the way it did, she didn't even know what she was fighting for anymore.
But before her fingers could even touch the gem, her movements halted. The stone rattled slightly in its hold, but it didn't feel threatening. No, more like it was excited for her to make contact with it.
"Did I tell you to stop?" Alexandra's voice echoed, and Keira opened her mouth to respond. "Don't answer that. I did not, so keep going."
Eh, rude. But Keira closed her mouth and instead continued to chew the inside of her cheek. Did she want this? No. And yes. Both?
However, if she kept hesitating, the doctor would surely distribute more chemicals into her bloodstream and take away even more of her control. Because despite what HYDRA might believe, she was fully conscious of when she was being dosed. She could feel it whenever the chemicals entered her system, felt the wave wash over her to make her more obedient.
Before she had a chance to continue her venture to touch the gem however, the stone rattled more violently and broke free from its hold in the scepter. Keira's eyes widened in shock, and in pure reflex, she tried to back away from the now floating gem. But she couldn't move. It was as though her feet were glued to the ground.
The buzzing in her head had now grown to such an intense level that she couldn't hear anything else, so she was just hoping that Alexandra wasn't giving her any orders. But unlike the last time she had been near the gem, the buzzing wasn't accompanied by any feelings of anger or irritation. No, this time it was more like overwhelming curiosity.
The stone had slowly been floating towards her, and just as her outstretched fingers were about to touch the blue gem, it broke.
The blue fragments shattered into a million pieces, revealing a yellow gemstone within it. This one was more refined, not oval like its blue casing, but rather more like how you would've expected a gem to look. More of a hexagonal shape, something you might find dangling from a necklace.
Then, the yellow stone exploded in a bright light, almost blinding her in the process. Her eyes closed on their own accord, and she put up her hands to shield her vision as she opened them again, only able to squint at the source of light.
The world around her was bathed in a bright, yellowish mist, with no trace of the room where she had just been standing. The place where the gem had shattered remained as the only source of light, like an invisible sun.
All around her, she could see faint shadows moving around, but they were too far away so she couldn't make them out clearly. It was as though her eyes were unable to focus on them. As if something had read her mind, she was suddenly yanked towards one of the shadows, bringing her closer to it.
The silhouette grew bigger, and Keira was abruptly halted a few feet from the shadow. She could tell it was a woman, but the light from behind was casting her features into shadow. The long hair was billowing in the wind, almost glowing like a fiery halo around the woman. Amidst the locks of hair, a crown could be seen on top of her head, and she had her arms thrown out. Keira didn't know who the woman was, nor did she get a chance to try and make out more of her delicate facial features before she was pulled away from her.
But she was certain of one thing; that woman was emanating raw power.
The shadows and the yellow mist merged together into one big swirl, draining the surrounding of any details before it exploded, and splattered the world around her in millions of colors. Everything was so bright, so colorful that the only conclusion Keira could draw was that it had to be outer space. There was no way that something on Earth could shine this bright, this vibrant. It was unworldly.
An intricately decorated orb appeared in front of her, its engravings running across its surface like so many silver-colored rivers. It split down the middle, revealing a purple stone that fleeted away from its former prison, only to stop a couple of feet from her, floating in the vast nothingness of space.
After that, the Tesseract came into view, and from it, a blue stone broke free. It too, fleeted away from her, only to stop beside the purple one. It was followed by red slithers that appeared from the sides of her vision, only to gather in front of her, and solidify into a bloodred stone. Just like its predecessors, it too joined the line of stones.
Then, a green light shone brightly from a shape that would best be described as an eye, with a delicate chain hanging off it. It almost looked as though the thing was meant to be worn as a necklace. It hovered towards her, and as it did so, the mechanisms within it clicked. A green stone was revealed, the source of the light and it too escaped its prison to join the other stones.
If Keira thought that four stones were enough, she was sadly mistaken.
A shadow of a hooded figure emerged from out of thin air. It was a bit taller than her, its robes billowing around it and its face was cast into deep shadow. But that wasn't what interested her. In the figure's arms, a bright orange stone glowed. This one seemed to glow a little more brightly as it floated out from its protector's grasp to join its companions.
Last, but not least, the stone she had just watched in Loki's scepter appeared in front of her once again, encased in its blue shell. But just like it had done before, the casing broke into a million pieces. The yellow stone fleeted away from her, but it didn't join the slightly curved line of the five other stones.
No, this one placed itself slightly below the five, in the middle. It almost looked as though it was the centerpiece of it all.
Keira didn't understand any of it. What was she seeing? What did the stones mean? All she knew was that they felt important, really important. Or was this what people experienced when they died?
Once again, the imagery around her shifted and the scene plunged into darkness. She couldn't see anything, it was all black around her. Was this the end? Just as she began to give up hope, a white light began to flicker in the distance. It didn't light up her surroundings much, but she could see shadows moving around her again. There were multiple ones, and they all seemed to be running in the same direction.
Following their progress, she saw that all of them were running towards the stones. Some of the shadowy figures made their way over to the stones, only to be repelled by an invisible force, getting thrown away from them.
And then, something happened.
Keira couldn't really describe it, but it felt like a power surge ran through her entire body, rattling the very earth she stood on. This was something bad. And as if on cue, many of the shadowy figures seemed to disintegrate into thin air.
Their outlines slowly broke off into little flakes, their hands and feet disappearing first. Some of them stumbled to the ground as their bodies vanished while some were already on the ground. It didn't take long before their entire bodies had disappeared into nothingness. The flickering light died out, and she couldn't see anything more than blackness.
"Perfectly balanced. As all things should be."
Keira's eyes shot open. She hadn't even realized that she had closed them. But no vision of outer space or some unknown entity met her this time. No, she was staring up at the ceiling, with that deep, baritone voice still echoing inside her head. As feeling slowly returned to her body, she became painfully aware of the hard metal grate digging into her back.
"Topaz. Talk to me."
Keira opened her mouth to respond but quickly shut it again. She felt so disoriented that she barely knew where she was, the pain in her back was the only thing grounding her to this reality. What had she seen? What did it all mean? Who was the woman? And whose voice had that been? It wasn't one she recognized.
"What happened?" Alexandra demanded again. She was baffled, as were the other scientists that were still cowering behind the two-way mirror. From their point of view, it had been very confusing. The mutant hadn't even been close to touching the glowing gem, still standing a good two feet away. But the next second, she was lying on the floor, unconscious and unresponsive to any vocal cues.
Keira blinked multiple times before rolling over to her front and leaning on her elbows. She was still aware of the questions, but she couldn't muster an answer. It was all too weird, too much. Her own pulse was beating in her ears, and her chest was rising and falling rapidly as her lungs worked furiously to provide her body with oxygen.
But there was something else. Something new.
Her head felt odd, and in her mind's eye, she could feel more than see mist-like tendrils reaching out towards her, prodding at the edges of her mind and begging to be acknowledged. It felt weird, as though her mind wasn't sorely her own anymore.
Despite her confusion, Keira slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position. "I- I don't know." She whispered truthfully, pressing her palms against her temples, as though it would help to clear her head and push away the tendrils. But instead of clearing it up, it seemed like the momentary pain caused one of the tendrils to seize its moment and connect with her.
"Don't have time... results... answers... No guesswork."
Keira's eyes widened in shock as the voice echoed inside her head and in pure reflex, she scrambled away from the scientist until her back hit the wall. How was it possible? Another voice inside her head, that wasn't her own?
Alexandra watched the mutant with a confused frown on her face. Why was she scrambling away from her? She threw a helpless look at the two-way mirror, asking for assistance, but no one came. Of course, useless men. "Topaz. Tell me what happened. Now." She demanded, standing up to follow in the mutant's wake.
Keira shook her head violently, hugging her knees in an attempt to calm herself. Even though she couldn't see them physically, it was like she could feel the tendrils all around her. Like a foliage hanging from the ceiling, the vines just waiting to slither down and attach themselves to her in a moment of weakness.
"Guards!" Alexandra yelled, causing Keira to flinch as the two agents from before entered the room. "Take her to isolation. No food or water for two days. She needs a reminder of what happens when she disobeys orders." The promise of better treatment from before was completely forgotten.
"Resisting orders... not possible... still new... perfect for months... now? Stone..."
Again, the same voice echoed in Keira's head. It wasn't her own thoughts, that much she knew. But that's where her knowledge ended. "Stop talking...." She mumbled, her voice barely audible.
"Weak..."
"I am not weak..." Keira answered the voice, a little louder this time. It was all so confusing, and she couldn't make either heads or tails of the situation. The voice she was hearing now was familiar, and not an unknown one, like the one in her vision.
She was startled as one of the guards put his hands on her arm, trying to pull her up from the cold floor. But he released her almost immediately while screaming for all he was worth. "Get it off me! Get it off me!" He was flailing his hand around wildly, and as he managed to get his glove off, everybody in the room gasped when they saw his skin, or rather, what had been his skin.
Diamond was traveling up his arm, encasing his limb, but it seemed like it wasn't a painless process. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, helplessly trying to pry the crystal off. He was scrambling around the room in blind panic, and he hit the wall with a thud, which knocked him down. But he quickly got back up on his feet again, leaning against the wall for support as his wide eyes followed the crystal's progress in shock. "I can't move my hand. I- I can't feel it." He whimpered. "Help me, doc. Please, help me."
Alexandra however, didn't move but merely watched the agent calmly with her head slightly tilted. Her eyes glittered maliciously, almost like she had been hoping for something like this to happen. "Calm yourself, agent. Panicking in the face of danger is unacceptable." She said dismissively, not at all concerned with the agent's wellbeing.
"I don't wanna die."
Keira's eyes shot to the agent as the crystal now overtook his facial features as well, immortalizing both him and his clothes. It was his last plea, and they could do nothing but just watch it happen. The crystal now encased his whole body, leaving him as a perfect diamond statue, frozen in time.
"Interesting..."
Again, the familiar voice echoed in Keira's head, and she hid her face in her hands, gently massaging her temples with her thumbs. Hearing voices was not something she needed, her head was already full of her own chattering thoughts. And now it was supposed to be filled with other voices as well? "No. No, I don't want this. I don't need this." She mumbled into her hands, her body trembling.
Alexandra glanced down at the distressed mutant with a bored look as she weighed her options. Touching the blonde, even with gloves didn't seem to provide enough protection from her powers now. She needed to guide Topaz carefully and calmly. Make her obey without force until they could figure out what was going on. The last thing she needed was people getting crystallized without control.
Because she wasn't sure that even the implant would be able to help in this situation as Topaz didn't seem to have control over her powers. So, she decided to try a bit of an unconventional method that might get her into trouble with the other doctors, but you do what you got to do. "Keira..." She began softly, crouching down to the same level as the blonde.
The sound of her name caused Keira to look up between her fingers in shock. It was the first time she had ever been spoken to with her real name, and not the nickname that HYDRA had given her.
"I understand this is frightening. The gem is an unknown entity, and we still don't know what it all means. But you can help us understand it. It's already amplifying your powers, and together, we can figure out a way to control it. To be better at it than you already are. But in order for that to happen, I need you to follow me. Is that alright with you?" Alexandra continued, meeting the blonde's gaze steadily.
Keira swallowed hard before tilting her head back against the wall and breaking eye contact. At last, her mind seemed to calm down and thereby making it possible to think again. The tendrils seemed to have retracted back into the foliage, leaving her alone for the time being. "Y- Yes. I don't wanna hurt people. I need to be in control of my powers." She whispered softly as she looked back at the doctor.
One accidental death was more than enough.
In the back of her mind, a snowy night came into focus. A redhead stretching out her hand towards a young Keira, who took it gratefully. This was the person she needed to be in control of her powers for. She needed to have control over her powers, so she wouldn't risk hurting Natasha, in case she ever saw her again.
"We can fix that. If you just come with me, I'll make sure you won't hurt anyone else again." Alexandra lied easily, but she didn't let it show on her face. "Now, if you just get back on your feet, you can get some rest before you get some proper food in you." She continued kindly. The punishment from before was long forgotten. Right now, she needed to raise the blonde's spirits, not crush them.
Without her powers under control, who knew what damage could be done?
❆
"Come on, Topaz! Focus!" Alexandra's voice echoed through the speakers.
It hadn't been too long since Keira's first encounter with the gem in Loki's scepter, and she still had trouble controlling her amplified powers. The understanding façade that the doctor had used in the beginning had dropped as soon as Keira's mood had stabilized.
Four more guards had paid with their lives when they had tried to manhandle Keira into going somewhere she didn't want to go, or if they had taken her by surprise. It hadn't been on purpose though, she just couldn't control how or when the crystals attached themselves to other people when she was upset.
But with time, she had gotten ahold of it, although the guards remained wary of trying to force her into anything. That wasn't the doctor's main concern, however. No, she wanted Keira to be able to expand the field of diamond out from her own body. And not just by accident like it had been doing now, but on purpose, and maybe even be able to shape it into whatever she wished. It would make her such a valuable asset if it was possible. She would be able to not only shield others but also use the crystal as a weapon.
But no matter how hard Keira tried, the diamond stubbornly stuck only to her own skin. It just didn't work. "I'm trying." She said through gritted teeth, all her focus on her outstretched hand, willing the diamond to expand from her fingertips.
"Try harder! You've already proven it's possible. You just need to want it enough."
Keira huffed and shook her head in annoyance. "Why don't you come in here and try it then? See if it's so easy." She muttered under her breath, not audible enough for the microphones in the room to pick it up. She was getting frustrated with herself as the attempts weren't working. All she did was just running in circles with this infernal idea of Alexandra's.
And if she was being honest, her whole heart wasn't in this experiment as her focus had been on a different task. The tendrils that she had first experienced after touching the stone were still bugging her. Even when she laid down to sleep, they stretched towards her, begging her to connect with them, to hear them, to read them.
And it might not have been such a big problem if the tendrils stayed silent as long as she didn't connect with them, but they didn't. The voices seeped into her mind regardless, making it impossible to focus.
After struggling with it, she had finally managed a way to just shut them out. Not completely, but enough to not lose her mind. In her heart, she knew it wasn't good to do so, because when she finally opened up again, it would all come crashing down. But she could only handle one problem at a time.
On the other side of the two-way mirror, Alexandra watched as the mutant strained her muscles in order to get the crystals to grow from her fingertips, but just like all the other times, nothing happened. Tapping a pen to her temple, she sighed deeply. "It's no use... She needs help." She muttered to herself, scribbling down a note.
Keira wasn't the only one who was frustrated.
Experiments took time, Alexandra knew that. But this one needed a bit of an extra push. "Alright, take a break, Topaz. You've earned it." She said into the mic, rolling her eyes slightly before rounding on the agents behind her. "Prepare her and the scepter for relocation. We're flying out today." The agents didn't dare ask questions but merely nodded before disappearing out through the door.
Keira had stopped her attempts the second that she got the order, so instead she was pacing around the room with her hands behind her back. She wasn't at peace enough to just stand still and wait for another. It annoyed her greatly that she was unable to expand the diamond, no matter how hard she tried.
It could obviously attach itself to others, and even through fabric, so why was it impossible for her to conjure it when she actually wanted it to happen? Her train of thought was interrupted as the sound of the door opening caught her attention.
Alexandra met the wondering gaze of Topaz with a soft smile on her lips. "Come on, Topaz. I've been thinking about a solution to this problem for a while now. But for that to happen, we need to travel a bit." At the confused look on the blonde's face, she just chuckled. "I'm afraid to say that the device that Stark gave you won't be of much help as we destroyed them."
Not that Keira would be allowed to be awake for the transfer anyways.