☑ THE SHADOW | Peter Maximoff

f o r t y - f i v e

~ 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 ~

The next prison room full of mutants was located at the back of the facility. Peter didn't even bother to check if they were mind-controlled. He didn't exactly have a way to prove it, nor the time to do so. He simply gathered the keys to set everyone free, then tried to hurry them through the halls so he could show them the plane.

Go there, he would tell them as soon as he saw it so he could focus on searching the rest of the base to see if there were any more. He'd only searched half the base. There could be a lot more, for all he knew.

Unfortunately, this group didn't speak English very well. That made it incredibly difficult to tell them that they needed to hurry and didn't have time to stare at the thirty-foot monsters throwing each other into the nearest surface they could find. He knew it was fucking wicked to watch, like a real-life version of Godzilla, but there wasn't any time.

"Go there," he said, pointing to the plane on the other side of the base. Though they didn't understand his words, they understood his pointed finger. They knew where they had to go. Peter continued the search for more.

He hoped that was the last group with every new door he opened. There wouldn't be any more room on the plane if he found anymore, and he wasn't exactly sure how he was going to fix that problem.

When Peter's legs were on the verge of giving out from exhaustion, he took a few seconds to sit up against a wall and attempt to catch his breath. He couldn't pass out now. He had to stay alert, and ready. He shouldn't even be allowed to feel tired - not after Amara created a thirty-foot fucking dragon and carried the weight of the entire battle on her shoulders.

But his stomach was in his throat, and he needed a split second of rest.

The view he had was surprisingly spectacular. It was high in the air, overlooking the endless forest and two clashing monsters, one a misty black with red eyes and the other a shiny white with blue eyes, tumbling through the trees, attacking at the throats, hitting each other until one form didn't move again.

He watched Amara's dragon, filled with life and determination as it finally managed to pin the Ice Monster to the ground and scratch at its face, over, and over, and over. Both beasts roared, one in pain and the other in dominance, with the ground shaking in time as the dragon slashed at the Ice Monster.

The dragon cried out in victory only a minute later. The sound of it gave Peter enough strength to stand himself up again. Except, as he was readjusting his goggles and preparing to speed his way through another section in the base, the sound of something else, loud and winding, like an engine powering at maximum speed, buzzing through the air behind him.

Peter's heart soared at the first sight of X-Jet. It was big, it was loud, and it was a sight he'd been dreaming of seeing since the first day he woke up in that God-awful cell with Amara. The plane landed among some of the rubble of the base on the other side of where he was standing. The ramp lowered seconds later, and each of the X-Men hurried out seconds after that, their suits clean and pristine and their expressions worried and tight.

The roaring of the dragon made everyone stop in their tracks. As Peter noticed that it spotted the X-Jet and immediately charge for it, he briefly remembered what Amara said. It would hurt anyone around them, no matter what they had done to her. Even if they were good. Amara was nowhere in sight; she couldn't stop the dragon in time to save them.

He had no choice but to speed down to his friends. The ground shook as the dragon ran forward, but Peter made it to them before he could, his heart beating out of his chest and his arms reached out in front of him. Out of instinct, his eyes squeezed shut.