I felt her well before I saw her. At first I thought, I knew, that I must be mistaken, there was no way that they found us all the way out here- right? But the closer she got, the more I could feel her presence. She wasn't hiding it by any means. I pushed everything aside as Loki had taught me- everything that had happened recently, I cleared it from my head, all the emotions I was feeling, from Peter to my dad, to everyone and everything else- the only thing I was focused on was keeping my family and myself safe from her.

I quickly exited my tent. "There's someone else out there." I said, not even looking at my dad and Pepper, just scanning the tree line, trying to figure out which way exactly she would be coming from.

"Rubes, you probably just heard something. There's no one out here. Just animals, it's okay." My dad said. Please, don't treat me like I have scared myself over being afraid of the dark. "No, it's one of them." I said, clearing my irritation back out of my mind. Just then, Peter came flying out of his tent and my dad stood up with Pepper, now they felt it too. As soon as she stepped out of the clearing, I wrapped them in a shield. I impressed even myself with the little effort it took to do it, it was nothing more than a thought- a silent order- and they were protected with the energy I produced. My dad slammed into the side of it "Ruby, no!" He yelled, but it was useless, I knew that if she wanted to, she could destroy them. They didn't stand a chance.

"Well well well, look at what we have here. They really did send you all the way out here for your own protection." The mutant said. I could feel power radiating off of her like she was an overcharged battery. I quickly began memorizing everything I could about the enemy. Tan skin, medium height, thin, chocolate brown eyes, and loose, curly dark hair. "Leave" I snapped as I continued to take in her every feature.

"Do you know what your friends tried to do to some of us?" She asked.

"Yeah, I heard." I said. For a moment, a very short moment, my heart broke. I knew how much it must hurt- the other mutants, they are her friends, and she too is being attacked and having something that makes her who she is and her friends who they are, taken away.

"They'll turn on you too, Ruby. If they were to beat us, you would be the next target." She said. It was my worst fear at this point, but I would be damned if I was going to let it stop me.

"You're wrong." I said simply. Because if they try, I won't let them take me down.

She let out an awful laugh, "So naive. Just like your friends. They really didn't stand much of a chance. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely a surprise, and at first it was one hell of a drop on us, but we weren't going down that easy." They didn't stand much of a chance? My heart skipped a beat- was this it? Were they dead?

"What do you guys want? Why are you doing this?" I asked as I sucked in a sharp breath, pushing the thought away from me.

The girl hesitated, looking over my shoulder to my family. "Make it so they can't hear us and I will tell you." She said.

I instinctively tried to somehow make it thicker, make it so they couldn't hear, but I had no idea how to go about it. "I don't know how." I said.

"Then move them." She said, then hesitated, letting a tense silence fall between us, "Trust me, Ruby. You want to send them away, because if this gets ugly, then they at least have a chance, and believe me, this could get ugly."

She wasn't lying, I knew that there was a good chance that this would get ugly. Part of me wanted it to get ugly, I knew that there was more than just her here, I could feel them, it came through like static almost, as if there was a shield protecting them from me feeling their presence, but it was thin. If it got ugly, maybe I could take them all. Maybe I could end it. I was stronger than last time. "Ruby, don't do it, let us out, we can help you." My dad begged, pulling me from my thoughts.

"They're all just simple humans right now, you're putting them in danger by having them here." The girl said.

I looked over my shoulder, more of a glance, and then with just the slightest twitch of my hand, I was sending them away, flying through the air and landing gracefully, gently, safely, away from here. I didn't let the shield up though, I knew they would just come back here and could get themselves hurt. "Very good." The girl said, and I stared at her, waiting for my answer. "Ruby, you can't tell me that since you've come out about being a mutant, you haven't been treated different- by everybody- your family, your friends, your little boyfriend. I know you have, we all have. Society treats us different. They've known about us for a long time, but they just suppress us, send us away, lock us up, throw away the key, and forget about us. We are the next generation of humankind- we're the evolved kind- we don't deserve to be treated like that."

"So that's what you want? Just to be treated well? That's completely fair, you can tell people that without killing people and destroying things. All this does is show people that you are exactly what they fear." I said, relaxing a little bit.

She laughed, "We are passed trying to be treated fair. Now, we want everything. We want everyone to feel our wrath and see how we are more powerful. To see that it is them that is less than us. You're one of us, Ruby, you're evolved, you're more powerful than them, you deserve to be on top with us."

"That's where you keep losing me." I said.

"You don't have to join us, but we can't let you stand in our way, there are bigger things at work here, and you just keep putting a damper on our plans. This should be almost over, but you just keep interfering." She said, as five more stepped out from under their hiding spot.

I put all my focus back on them, "I'm sorry, I can't stand by and let you do this, let you hurt people. Innocent people." As I looked at all of their faces, I realized I recognized one of them- the flamethrower- I heard he had somehow got away, but the burns that stretched up his neck and face from his chest confirmed that it was, in fact, him- and his smile confirmed that he had hoped that that would be my answer.

"Then you have to be taken out of the picture." Another one said.

They came at me full force again, and I was ready to shield myself. I fought harder this time- I was able to make my shield smaller as to just fit me, and it was stronger. I moved closer, dodging shots where I could. I sent balls of energy at them, striking back, hitting some of them, but I couldn't manage to capture anyone. Suddenly, the girl who had talked to me stepped into the frontline for the first time. She hit me with what I thought was lightning, and I deflected it with my shield, but suddenly I could feel myself becoming drained, like I was losing my powers. I created a wall, and I began putting all I could into it. It began shining brighter and brighter, and it was hot. They were hitting back with all they had. Blood was dripping from my nose as I tried to trap them in it, but I was failing, I couldn't go forward with how hard they were hitting back, but I was still pushing them back slowly from the extreme heat and power that radiated off of it.

It was no longer purple, it was more of a white- maybe even a light bright blue. My body was shaking, I was giving it all I had. I felt something hot hit me from the side, but I couldn't draw my focus away. It hit me again, ripping the air from my lungs, the third and last time it hit me it was weaker, but I was already so weak that it didn't matter. As I gave the shield the last of what I had it got even brighter. I was suddenly hit from the side, but this time it was by something solid. I was knocked to the side just as they hit me with their powers again, and just as my shield exploded.

Blackness consumed me just after the force from the explosion hit me. When I finally came to, I could feel someone's hand on my back, my eyes felt burnt- my body felt burnt. It hurt to breathe, and I couldn't manage to force my eyes open. The longer I laid there, the more the pain became apparent. I realized I was laying on someone- I could hear their heartbeat and them breathing long deep breaths- I was on their chest. I needed to move. I tried to slide off, but the hand gripped me harder, keeping me firmly on them, "Don't move, wait until it's clear. I'll get you help then." Loki's voice whispered. I forced my eyes open- or one of them- the other one was so swollen I couldn't even force it open. I pushed harder against him but he kept me there with ease. I was so weak. "Ruby lay still." He snapped. I didn't stand a chance against him.

After a few more seconds, he got up, gently rolling me off of him. "You're hurt badly. Don't get up." He ordered, "I'm going to get you help." He said.

"How did you know?" I asked. I sounded like I was a long-term smoker.

"I suspected it from the beginning. I knew they would try to find you, you're too much of a risk. Now, I mean it, you lay here, do not make a sound."

"My family." I coughed.

"I know, we'll find them." He said, his voice a little softer, then he limped out of the woods.

I laid there, just focusing on staying conscious, it wasn't getting any better. I heard rustling out in the clearing by where the battle had just ensued. I laid motionless, trying to hold my breath. "Where could have they gone?!" My dad's voice snapped, full of anxiety and fear. I sat forward, trying to figure out if this was a trap. My vision was poor but I could make out his shape. I slowly and quietly made it to my feet as he scrambled, looking for some sort of hint to what had happened and where I went.

"Dad" I finally managed to say as I went tree to tree leaning heavily on each one. His head snapped around, and suddenly someone else had me too- Peter- he held my waist, trying to keep me steady. My dad quickly came to me, picking me up. I fell limp in his arms. "Peter, go get Pepper now and head back this way. We have to get to the landing spot now, we have to find a way to get her out of here." My dad ordered.

"Loki" I choked out, both of them snapping their eyes to me, "He went to get help."

"Loki was here? When?" My dad asked. It hurt to even breathe. I sucked in several long hard breaths, trying to get myself together enough to talk. Peter took off to go get Pepper and my dad laid me back down on the ground. "You don't have to talk, not now." He said, "You'll start healing soon."

I managed to shake my head no. Something else was wrong with me, because my shield just failed, and my super healing wouldn't work. "Can't" I said, and then the pain began disabling me more. My head throbbed and my body burned.

"Shhhh, Ruby you're going to be fine, I promise." He said, but I could feel something wasn't right. Tears streaked his face.

I blacked out again, and when I woke up, I was laying on a hospital bed hooked to several machines, my right leg was in a sling lifted above my head, and my right arm in a sling hooked tightly to my chest. I touched my face, only one eye was still able to be opened- my right one. Only my dad was in the room with me. "Dad," I said, I sounded stronger.

He sat straight up, his eyes soft as he met mine. "Hey, Rubes." He said, "How do you feel?"

I hurt. Not near as bad as I did before, but still pretty bad. "Better than in the woods."

"I'm sure you do." He said then sat back a little bit, "Do you remember what happened in the woods?" He asked.

"Yeah, right up until I passed out." I said.

He nodded his head, relief washing over his expression. "You shouldn't have done what you did, Ruby. It wasn't smart. You almost got yourself killed. I was scared to death."

I laid my head back and stared at the ceiling. "I'm going to fight them. You're not going to keep sending me away." I said, then glanced back over at him. His face was twisted in confusion.

"Rubes… Are you sure you remember everything?" He asked. I sat forward and stared at him, and he sucked in a deep breath and put his face into his hands, rubbing it and then looking back up to me. "Ruby, you lost your powers. That's why you're not healing, why your powers gave out."

My world felt like it shook. I stared up at him, "No, you're wrong." I said.

"Rubes… I wish I was. More than anything, but it's true. You're here, battling to get better, battling an infection from your burns, you've been out for 4 days… If it helps at all, you gave us enough of an edge, that they followed the ones who attacked you back to their headquarters, and they… They took care of them. There is no fight to be in." Tears streaked from the eye that was still good, I didn't understand. How did it happen? How did I suddenly lose my powers? "Ruby… Sometimes things happen and they- they're for the best."

"Get out." I said as a sob bubbled through my lips, "I don't need to hear how this is good, and how what I did was wrong- get out!"

He left without another word. I put my hands over my face and cried. I hit the side of the bed in fury- I didn't understand. All the plans I had made for myself- they were based around me having those gifts, and now they were gone.

It had been about an hour since my dad left when Loki came through my door. "What do you want?" I snapped as I sat forward.

"You did really well." He said somberly.

"Yeah, whatever. Why don't you just go? Why do you keep hanging around me?" I snapped.

He rubbed his jaw and turned like he was going to leave. "I just want you to know I'm sorry how it happened."

"What a coincidence, me too."

"Ruby…" He started, then paused, meeting my eyes, "You and I, we are a lot alike."

"How do you figure?" I asked.

"Well, we are both the outcast, we both found out who we were a little later in life, we are both smart, and we have both been tricked into thinking certain things about ourselves." He said, then began to exit my room, but stopped in the doorway and turned to meet my eyes again, "Ah yes, and of course, we both look stunning in green."

I was left with only more questions and slightly grossed out. I laid my head back onto my pillow and drifted into a less than peaceful sleep. I was shaken awake several hours later by a doctor, my pain had gotten worse. "Good morning. I'm just here to change your bandages and give you some more painkillers. How are you feeling?" She asked.

"I'm in pain." I said. She nodded her head as she pulled my blanket down- it was the first time I was able to see the extent of my injuries. My not casted leg was wrapped in bandages, it was burned and beaten from my ankle up to my hip. As she lifted the gown, I could see that the burns didn't stop there, they worked their way all the way up my hip and across my chest. I was beaten and broken.

"You have an infection, we have given you antibiotics and it is clearing up. Once it is cleared up completely and your pain is at a manageable level, we will send you home. I've been told how much you dislike the infirmary." She said as she finished up changing my bandages.

"Yeah, thanks." I said. Once she was finished up I laid my head back down to try and drift to sleep, but there was a knock at the door. I sat back forward as my dad came back in. "Feeling alright?" He asked.

"Not really." I mumbled. He came up to my bedside and gently kissed my forehead.

"I'm so sorry Ruby." He whispered, "I wish it was different, but listen, you are still you. You are amazing, and smart, and strong. What you did, it was still amazing. Without you, we would have never beaten them. We wouldn't have stood a chance. You not only weakened them by taking out the stronger ones, but you had them so scrambled they took us right to their hideout."

"What do you mean I took out the stronger ones? I didn't take anybody out." I said.

Silence fell back over us. "Rubes… When you said you remembered everything from when you blacked out, when was that?"

"In the woods, right after you found me and sent Peter to get Pepper. You just told me I was going to be fine." I said, "Then I blacked out."

He let silence fall between us before sucking in a long breath, "You didn't black out then.

I came looking for you, and you stumbled out of the woods, you looked half dead. You could barely breathe, you were burnt, and bleeding. I thought you were going to die in my arms right there in the woods. You started talking about Loki, and as much as I wanted to get it out of you, I wanted you to save every piece of energy you had. Peter went to get Pepper. I just held you, promising you it would be okay. I heard the jet land in the distance, but I knew that they would bring a stretcher of some sort if Loki had been there. Peter and Pepper got back just as they got there. They were so beaten, and they weren't all there, I knew it had gone bad. Thor and Loki helped load you up, you were in so much pain. I knew that your leg was broken, and I thought your shoulder might be, and they agreed with me. We were about half way back when they appeared. No one was in any shape to fight, especially you. I did all I could to protect you, but in the end, I had to help fight or we were all going to die right then and there. I left you, laying there, in and out of consciousness. The next thing I knew, there you were, fully charged up I guess. I mean you were still hurt, but suddenly you were ready to fight. You could fight. They were all shocked when you started throwing your balls of energy and shielding us, and now, of course, we know why they were shocked, they had just done something that took your powers away, but at that point I guess you were still hanging on to them. You killed the girl, the girl who took away your powers. It was crazy, you threw your energy ball and it engulfed her and just destroyed her. You did the same thing with the fire guy. Then you did it with another. You killed 3, all within seconds of one another, then the others got the hint and they ran for the hills. You blacked out then. You were standing, and then you were falling. I caught you, we got you back here. It was a rough first 24 hours. You were having seizures, and you had head injuries and a fever. There was really a point when we thought you weren't going to make it. There was a crash team there on standby just in case. I was terrified, we all were. Sure enough, you pulled through like a champ. After that first vital 24 hours, I couldn't do it, I'm somewhat ashamed to say it, but I couldn't watch you and wonder what breath might be your last. So, I went out, I helped them get the rest of them. Peter was vengeful, it had nothing to do with not being able to watch you suffer, and everything to do with revenge. Which, I don't blame him and I am in no way judging him for. For me, it had a little to do with revenge too. Pepper stayed with you the whole time, she wouldn't leave your side. She kept me updated- or she would have if you would have gotten worse. Either way, you pulled through, and none of it would have been possible without you."

I took in everything he just told me. It was a lot to take in. "I never wanted to kill anyone. I mean, I'm not speaking in that instance, but I mean I don't want to hurt anyone, that has never been my goal or what I wanted." I said.

"Rubes, there wasn't another choice." My dad said.

"Yeah… Yeah, I guess." I said.

Silence fell between us again. "Rubes, you look pretty beat, why don't you get some rest?" I nodded my head in reply and he shut the lights off as he left my room, leaving me alone.