***BOOK TWO OF THE ELENA MAXIMOFF SERIES***
Elena's whole world had shattered. They had won against Ultron, but at what cost?
Struggling with her grief, Elena closes in on herself, cutting herself off from her friends, her family. Yet, nothing seems...
I'm standin' in the ashes of who I used to be, and I'm faded away, you know, I used to be on fire.
Angel On Fire, Halsey
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I follow closely behind Steve and Sam, rounding corners as we descend to sub-level five. Taking a sharp turn, I notice a soldier unmoving on the floor. Knocked out? Dead? I don't know, all I do is increase my pace, knowing that the Soldier has already been unleashed. Just as I'm about to sprint further down, Steve grabs onto my forearm. Looking at him, he gestures to a room off to our left. We all enter, and all I can see are bodies. All unmoving. All disposed of by the Soldier I have no doubt. Steve kneels beside a soldier, hurriedly checking for a pulse. Movement catches my eye near Winter's shattered cage.
"Help me." A raspy voice calls. "Help." It calls again, and Steve is immediately on his feet, moving towards the sound. Anger rolls through me when I see the fake psychiatrist on the floor groaning in pain. I start forward, ready to give this fraud a piece of my mind. Unfortunately, Sam guesses what I'm about to do and puts his hand on my shoulder, in position to hold me back if necessary. However, while Sam was holding me back, he didn't get the chance to reign in the Captain.
"Get up." Steve orders, leaving no room for argument. When he doesn't act, Steve wrenches him up and shoves him against the wall. "Who are you? What do you want?" Steve's words are hurried and barely conceal his frantic demeanour. The fraud remains silent for a moment, shaking his head, I'm almost surprised to see him speak.
"To see an empire fall." He states ominously, a touch of insanity lingering in his eyes. However with our attention on the imposter, we don't notice the Soldier lingering in the corner, until he pulls me away from Sam and shoving me behind him before attacking. He immediately fires a metal punch towards Sam, thankfully Sam seeing the blow coming, ducks to avoid it. Trying to take on the Soldier with attacks of his own. Unsurprisingly, the Soldier gains the upper hand, throwing the Falcon into the remnants of the cage.
"Зима (Winter)!" I yell, trying to bring him back. "Вернись ко мне! Зачем ты это делаешь?(Come back to me! Why are you doing this?)" I plead, resting my hands on his flesh arm, he looks down at me and his gaze softens. For a moment I think I might be getting through to him, until Steve lets go of the fraud and meets the Soldier.
"No!" I shout in English to Steve, though my pleading falls on deaf ears, him being too engrossed in the fight. Realising words won't get through to the pair, I summon my powers, readying to break them apart. But being to focussed on the two Super Soldiers, I don't notice the fraud coming up behind me with a chair, until I turn to see him knocking it into my skull. Pain explodes on my left temple, and all the power I'd summoned leaves me instantly, dropping to the ground and holding a hand up to my throbbing head.
"You know, in this book I found some interesting inscriptions about you too, Elena Maximoff." He begins, leaning over me, holding a distinct red book in his hands, a book I had hoped had burned to the ground with Hydra. Opening up the book he glances down at the page, and a sinister smile stretches onto his face. "Or should I say, Тема. (Subject)" That word makes a horrified gasp leave my lungs. Before I can cover my ears or disable the man he's reciting the dreaded words.
