Age of Glory | Pietro Maximoff

Chapter Twenty-Six: Hope - I'll Take That From Them First

Vision nods and picks me up from the ground. Taking off towards the Quinjet on the west side of Manhattan, he coms to Tony about something which I don't understand. I don't understand anything at this point. What's it called when your skin feels clammy but you're ice cold and your heart rate is lowering? Oh, yeah. Shock. I lost the word there.

When Vision lands at the Quinjet, opening the door with his technopathy, I see a group of very anxious, very frightened Avengers. Steve and Carol are pacing, Tony and Clint are figuring a route out of the city without being noticed, Thor and Sam are arguing about either leaving or staying, Rhodey is laying on a stretcher, Nat is rocking back and forth in a ball on the floor, Maria is standing watch over her but her mind is somewhere else, Wanda is looking over Rhodey (probably for injuries), and Pietro is running around sporadically in the back portion of the Quinjet. He almost looks like he did at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

When Vision walks in with me in his arms, Pietro darts over to us, his face pure terror. "Возлюбленная!" he shouts, letting Vision rest me in his arms. Pietro tucks me close to him, resting his head on top of mine. "Is she okay? Is she hurt?"

"She's in shock. I suggest we treat her for such," Vision says, but I can barely hear. My vision is getting blurry, and my hearing is fading away.

Gregory. He's here. He's coming after me and my family. Again.

"Glory? Wake up!" I keep hearing Pietro shouting, but shouting just makes me want to leave more. I feel his arms shaking, and then I'm placed somewhere else. My eyes shut. Just a small rest. It won't hurt anyone.

· ~ · ~ · ~ ·

I'm in a large, black room. There are no windows, only one door, and it's cold as ice. I'm sitting in the middle of the room, chained to the floor. I hear people talking outside the door, angry whispers. Pulling on my chains, I struggle to get free.

When the door opens, ever so slowly, I see a large figure enter. As the light allows his face to become visable, a young Gregory comes into view. A large smile is plastered on his face as he approaches me, black fire and smoke coming in his wake.

Behind him follow four people. These four I know very well: Arry King, Cordelia Harrison, Vlad Spencer, and Aspen Penrose. Something is wrong with their faces. They're empty, like they aren't there at all. Their eyes are dark, their faces are very white and ashen, and they seem to move like zombies as they cross the space between the door and I.

No words are said, but they line up against the wall, and Gregory seems to be in control of them. I try to shout their names, for help, for anything, but my voice is lost.

When they are lined up against the wall, Gregory turns to me and says, "This is what will become of them." He holds his hand out and the black flame shoots towards my friends. It wraps itself around their necks and lifts them up so that they are dangling off their feet.

That isn't even the worst part. When Gregory snaps his fingers, my friends come back to life. They start flailing, grasping at the black noose around their necks. They're choking. Dying. And I can't do a thing to save them.

"No!" I try to shout, over and over. "NO!"

I hear the door open again, but my eyes are still glued to my friends' faces as the life comes out of them. They died, and I didn't do a thing.

They disappear, and in their place walk Carol, Steve, Wanda, Sam, Vision, Thor, Clint, Tony, Rhodey, Nat, and Maria. "No! Not them! Please!" I beg, but Gregory does the exact same thing.

One by one, each of the people I love most die. I thought it would be over after this, but silly me. He's missed the one person I can't live without.