The Crystal: Revenge {Intro}

“The twins-”

That had been two hours ago. Gracie realized in horror as she watched her best friend fall to dust that there were four very precious human beings in her home waiting for her mother and she had no idea if they were alive. She had to find out.

“Gracie! I am sure it will be alright! Pearl is there. She called nearly an hour ago.”

“And nearly an hour ago Thanos decided to steal half of my family away from me.”

Nothing was stopping the inhuman as Natasha Romanoff shouted after her. The woman tumbled out of the car as she raced for the door of her home. Her boots hit the concrete of the walkway, then the wood of the porch before with a burst of blue magic, the door slammed open.

“Pearl! Amara! CAIDEN!”

She felt tears spring in her eyes when she was met with silence, the air stolen from her lungs as she struggled to take one in.

“No no no no…” She muttered. “Madeline! Pearl, guys come on!!”

Nothing. She raced through the house, first the living room, then the kitchen, freezing in the parlor as she noticed grey dust scattered in a pile on the ground.

“N-No-” She cracked, then swung around and ran up the stairs, ignoring Nat who stood in the living room. “AMARA!!” She nearly screamed, her throat aching from the effort as she nearly tripped on the steps, her heart racing as she went down the hallway, pushing open door after door, crying out to her children.

“Malkom…”

Gracie jerked her head up as her hand reached for the handle of the twin’s bedroom, looking to Nat who had followed her up.

The sympathetic look on her face made Gracie want to throw up in her mouth. She hated this.

“No…” She said again before turning the handle and pushing the door open, stepping into the room. The room still held the childish charm, decorated like a forest to the twin’s favorite, the bunk bed empty and Amara’s favorite stuffed animal on top of two painfully distinct piles of ashes.

A violent ache began to blossom in Gracie’s as she walked closer, slowly kneeling down onto her knees. Her hands gently scooped up the stuffed tiger, her fingers grazing over the worn fur, brushing away the ash that stuck to the bottom of its paws. Tears slowly began to fall down her cheeks as that ache slowly began to build into an air-blocking mass in her chest.

A sob ripped through her body as she cradled her face into the stuffed animal, breathing in the musty but comforting lavender smell of her daughter that still lingered.

“Gracie...We will find him. I promise you.”

Gracie’s gaze shifted across the glass eyes of the animal in her hand, staring at her own warped reflection. Slowly setting the item down on the ground, the inhuman carefully stood to her feet, her head raising as she did.

“Yes...we will. And I’m going to kill him.”

--------------------------------- 4 months later

The air felt heavy. Laced with the paranoid breath of every human being who sat in the room, the chairs running in a circle, as the meeting was about to commence but something, or rather someone had stopped them, freezing every man and woman in the room like icicles.

A woman stood at the entrance closest to the back, dressed in a lightly form-fitting dark blue jumpsuit, black boots, and her long dark black hair tumbling over her shoulders as she stood there, her hands clenched at her sides.

“You’ve returned.”

Her gaze sharply jerked towards the man who spoke, tilting her chin upwards as she realized who it was. One of her old masters. Gracie Malkom had returned to the very spot she knew he would be. But not for what he arrogantly thought.

She took one step forward and within seconds, dozens of guns with lasers were trained on her chest. But she didn’t even seem to flinch. Taking one more step forward, her dark eyes never left the elder man who seemed both terrified, excited, and nervous at the same time.

She wasn’t responding like he expected her to.

“Have you returned where you belonged or you here to make a feeble show?” He mockingly questioned and Gracie narrowed her eyes. She was not here to play.

Stopping about 10 feet away from the man’s station, the woman slowly raised one hand, a blue glowing ball of mist materializing her palm as the gunmen anxiously tightened their grip on their guns. But it didn’t do much for them.

Gracie tilted her head, her eyes glowing a similar blue, that color spreading like a virus along the gunmen’s heads, slipping into their eyes before they suddenly lowered their guns and Gracie raised an eyebrow as if to say “you were saying?”

The fear was evident in the man, who went by the name Maxim Abramov, as he looked upon his former creation.

“What do you want?” He questioned and Gracie lowered her head just slightly, the slyest smirk slowly appearing across her face before she responded.

“Your heart.”

Raising both hands before her, the woman’s fingers flexed as she worked her magic, Maxim suddenly letting out a painful choked gasp of pain before the blue glow appeared up his neck, creeping closer to his mouth and nose.

The former hydra toy suddenly jerked her left hand back, a sickening squelching noise tearing from Maxim’s chest, an object flying from him before landing in Gracie’s hand, her right still stretched out, glowing a brilliant blue.

It was his heart.

She had meant it literally.

Sharps gasps and murmurs ran through the entire room as Gracie looked around, barely acknowledging Maxim’s body slumping over in his chair.

“Now listen here.” She started, blood dripping from the organ in her hand. With every drop against the floor, the fear that Gracie could feel amongst the men and women around her blanketed her heavily. She almost seemed to enjoy it.

“I know this is being recorded. This meeting. Every person in this room including yours truly has a camera on their face, writing a record.” She carefully circled the hand holding the heart, bringing it closer to her face.

“This is a message. To Hydra itself.” Gracie turned her wrist, sinking her teeth into the heart. Ripping it from her mouth, she chewed so casually, every person within her sight paled horribly. The glow in the Inhumans eyes lessened but the orb in her hand didn’t.

“ You have 8 days. I hope you are close enough to your families to say goodbye.”

Turning back towards the door, Gracie raised her hand over the crowd then with one flip of her hand, the orb dissolved into the air. The gunmen under her control suddenly turned, the lasers shifting from her chest to the head of every single person in the room.

Walking back towards the door, Gracie flung the heart in her hand to the floor, the sound of bullets flying and screams filled her ears as she exited the room.

They would thank her later.