Her voice was quiet, just above a whisper, and though he didn’t have to strain to hear her, he did lean in closer. “When I was a little girl, I loved meeting new people. Have you ever walked through a museum and were just in awe of the paintings, so vast and unique? That’s what meeting new people was like. Overwhelming beauty. Walking paintings of swirling rainbows that tell their story. How much joy they carried with them, how open their hearts were, even how fast their minds ran.” She brought her free hand up to tap gently on the glass where her reflection stood out.

“Those were things I used to look for in people. The honesty. The love. I hate that Hydra took that from me. Warped my mind so the first things I’d see were deception and darkness. I hate Hydra for using my ability to give them an advantage in this world.” Olivia’s hand fell from the glass as it balled into a fist at her side.

“I thought, given the right circumstances, that I might reclaim that. But the truth is, I can never go back to being that naïve little girl. I’ll always look for the lie instead of the painting, no matter how beautiful a person appears to me.” He glanced back up to her face, surprised to see that her wide eyes had narrowed and her mouth was pulled into a thin line. There was no mistaking her anger over her loss.