ᴛʀᴏᴜᴠᴀɪʟʟᴇ | 𝐖. 𝐌𝐀𝐗𝐈𝐌𝐎𝐅𝐅 [ ɪ ]

| ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴʜᴀɴᴄᴇᴅ |

The sound of the snow crushing beneath the tires of the Jeep and the soft whir of the engine were far too loud for Sage Rhonwen's liking. It was as though she feared that even the quietest of noises would notify the HYDRA soldiers of their presence and they would come hopping down from the trees, swarming them and resulting in the immediate failure of their mission. In an effort to calm the panic that was rapidly flooding her system, Sage bounced her knee anxiously as Natasha drove towards the HYDRA Research Base, anticipating the fight that would soon break out and scanning every inch of the terrain for any potential threats.

The cold air nipping at the exposed skin on her neck caused a chill to run down her spine, and she felt goosebumps erupt on the back of her neck. Shuddering slightly, she brought her hands to her face, blowing hot air into them and rubbing them together for warmth before sitting on them. The rings on her hands dug into her thighs, causing them to ache slightly, but she preferred the slight pain over the cold. The tranquill, snowy atmosphere of the forest they were driving through contrasted the violence that was soon to come. The calm before the storm, some might call it.

Rocking back and forth, she took deep breaths just as Natasha had advised her too on multiple occasions in the event that she started thinking too much, a habit that Sage had developed at a rather young age. It had been nearly eight months since Natasha Romanoff had shown up at her aunt and uncle's house in Denham Springs, Louisiana, and as she had predicted, her life had changed almost entirely.

For starters, she had dropped out of high school, having been deemed to dangerous to continue to be around so many people all at once. Sage didn't mind, as the only thing she would really miss about it was actually learning things. She had also gone to live at the Avengers tower in New York, which was a very different setting than the small town atmosphere she had grown used to after being on the run with her father for so many years and then going to live with her aunt and uncle. 

She had been out on the town several times with Natasha, who had now become like an older sister to her, and it was nice, but she preferred the quiet and stillness of small towns. New York City was always moving at an incredibly fast pace, and seeing as Sage had super speed and processed things much quicker than most people, this made her head spin slightly. Typically, after these outings, Sage would go to a pool to calm herself down. The stillness of the water had always made everything slow down for a while, which Sage needed desperately.

Another major change in her life was the fact that she now spent most of her days in the gym with one of the Avengers, training in combat or learning how to control her powers. The person she had found to be most helpful in aiding her to achieve the last goal had been Bruce Banner. Seeing as they both sort of lost control whenever they felt a particularly strong emotion  - in Bruce's case, anger, and in Sage's case, literally anything else - this made perfect sense.

But now, she wasn't in training anymore. She was now on her first real mission with the Avengers, and her mind had been sent into overdrive while her anxiety threatened to overrule her sense of logic. She was surrounded by people who did these sort of things on a frequent basis, and the training she had received over the past year had been extensive. It would be fine. It had to be.

It had taken so much convincing to get to be a part of this raid. Thanks to her training, she had grown stronger and more in control of her powers, but she hadn't been putting them to use. All she wanted to do was help. To do something worthwhile. To prove herself, and now that she was finally getting the chance to do that, she was totally freaking out. She could not fail. She refused to. Failure was not a concept she wanted to familiarize herself with.

Clint, who was sitting beside him in the back of the Jeep eyed her discreetly as she began fidgeting with the zipper on her black and purple leather suit and decided to try his hand in comforting the teenage girl.