Storm ≛ Tony Stark ≛

41.

'Susie!'

The walls of the hospital changed from tiles to plaster as Sue made her way through the hall. As if in a trance, she took every step slowly and let her fingers glide along the gurney that sat to the left. Her red suit was stark against the bleak halls and its material changed to waves of blue when it reflected off the bright, fluorescent lights.

'Stay with your brother!'

'Is Mum going to be okay?! I want to see her!'

'Johnny, you're in charge. J-Just stay out here!'

She heard the voices before she turned the last corner. The scene she saw was strange to her, as when she saw it last, it was from a different point of view. The nurses and paramedics that bustled by Sue were unaware of the woman's presence. She was used to the phenomenon of going by unseen, but this was different. She stood out in her red suit and when she passed a mirror that hung at eye level on the wall, her reflection was absent, as she was out of her time.

'Susan, Dad's working.'

'I want to see Mum! I want to see her!'

Young Susan Storm yanked at the door handle that was above her head. Her blonde hair was nearly platinum and the colour would soon fade to the dirty blonde it was in the current day. Johnny, who took her arms and pulled her away from the locked door, had the same silvery hair and was yet to learn how to style it. His curls were messy on his head and being the young age of twelve, he was in the stage of wearing baggy trousers and t-shirts with Van Halen and The Who prints on them.

'Johnny, Mum's hurt! I saw her! She was...' young Susan could be seen thinking about what she saw.

Sue remembered the event all too well. Their father brought them to the hospital at the news of their mum's accident. It was his one of few days off, but the call he received was urgent. His wife, Melody, had been t-boned at an intersection by a car that failed to stop. Paramedics rushed her to the nearest hospital, which happened to be the one Lewis, Sue and Johnny's father, worked at.

'W-We'll go get a galaxy bar from the vending machine,' young Johnny suggested when he saw his younger sister stare into space. He hadn't seen his mother being wheeled in on the gurney, but Sue walked through the door just as she was taken into the emergency surgery.

'I don't want a galaxy bar...'

Sue watched as her younger self stared into space. This would have been the moment where their mother flat-lined and their father descended into his spiral at her loss. Their Aunt Marygay would turn up only minutes later, and take the children to the cafeteria on the main floor. Melody was Marygay's sister, so she too was in despair from her death.

'Sue? Sue, hey.'

Steve Rogers appeared in her line of vision, his shield on his arm and his eyes narrowed at Sue. The hospital dissolved into swirls of white and the setting darkened, taking her back to the HYDRA base in Sokovia. She blinked as Steve stepped forward, putting a red leather-clad hand on her shoulder.

He searched the halls for the woman who was absent from the intercom and he found her staring out to the forest around the base. The window was glassless and Steve called her name once, to which she ignored and stood rigid in her place. He walked forward and she came to at another call of her name, turning to him and revealing the glazed eyes she was yet to be rid of.

'Did the enhanced get to you?' he questioned, seeing the way her mouth opened and closed in disorientation. 'HYDRA's up to their old tricks. She's capable of casting some sort of witchy spells.'

'Y-Yeah,' Sue breathed, her breath shaky and her palms clammy. 'I saw... my past. When my mother died.'

'I'm sorry...' he bowed his head with his lips pursed. 'Johnny and Stark have the scepter. We're heading back to base.'