Playing with Fire

18. The Choice

Y/N's POV

"Malcolm's mine," was all I yelled before I flew off over the crowd of soldiers getting back up from my blast. I would have stuck around longer but I couldn't risk letting Malcolm get away.

I flew as fast as I could through the littered halls that were once a Hydra facility. Malcolm just made it out the front doors when I shot a ball of fire at his back, knocking him onto his stomach. When he started scrambling to get up, I was able to catch up to him. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and flew us both about ten feet off the ground.

I stared into his eyes and could see the fear and fire in their reflection. "How pathetic," was all I got out. I looked at him with disgust. How could he do the things he does and still live with himself.

"You could have been a great soldier," he started, "but you're too soft."

"I was never meant to be a soldier, in fact, you took that choice away from me the day you took me away from and killed my family, and being the monster that you are, you even let me believe it was me."

He let his head drop back and laughed, "You think I'm the monster? Look at you! No normal person can resurrect themselves. Just because you get rid of me doesn't mean your life will magically go back to normal."

Aggravated I threw him back down onto the street. He rolled on his side trying to get the air back into his lungs.

"Normal is over-rated anyway," I said walking over to him again. I stood over him and grabbed his collar once more so he couldn't get away. I raised my other fist back and let it ignite into flames. I stood there frozen in rage letting the memories flash over in my mind. The happy ones I had of my brother, my mother's smile, all the way to our own murders and her charred wedding ring. I hated him for everything he put me through. Here I was, finally on top.

"DO IT! Show me you're the Hydra agent we made you out to be!" A growl escaped me as my wings behind me disappeared and my fist of flames turned blue.

Peter's POV

After the rest of the team made it inside, we began to get some footing against all the soldiers. After webbing a guy to the floor, I looked around and saw that there were about thirty Hydra soldiers left.

"I know you want to go after her, so go!" Tony yelled as he threw another guy behind him, "We got this."

I gave him a nod and webbed myself up through the blown-out roof. I ran to the edge in the direction she ran out. Luckily because of her bright wings, I was able to spot her landing a few feet away from Dr. Malcolm in the street. She lifted her fist and lit it up. If it is raw emotion driving her actions right now, I needed to get down there and talk to her. I shot a web and landed a few yards behind her, not wanting to set her off.

"DO IT! Show me you're the Hydra agent we made you out to be!" He yelled as she focused all her power on the growing flame that just turned blue.

"Y/N, don't do it!" I yelled from behind her. She heard me, however, she kept her eyes glued on Malcolm.

"You don't understand! HE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!" she yelled back at me. I could see her fist slightly shaking and could tell by her voice she was crying. I could see she was hesitant about killing him so I knew I just needed to get through to her a little more.

"Actually, I do," I said calmly, "When my Uncle died I blamed myself at first. I was so angry at the man who killed him and didn't stop searching for his murderer. When I found him, I had him cornered and scared. I had the opportunity to kill him and take my revenge but in the end, I didn't do it. By killing him, I would have just proven to my Uncle that I am as worse as that thug. Do the right thing. Let him rot in a cell and pay for the rest of his life, don't give him the easy way out."

I could see her flame slowly go out as she let go of Malcolm's collar and lowered her other fist. She could see her shoulders move up and down as she took a steadying breath.

"Heh," Malcolm laughed, "I was wrong...you could never be Hydra." Catching her off guard, Malcolm swiped out her feet from under her, sending her crashing onto her back in front of him. She was too thrown off to notice that Malcolm was winding up his hands behind his head with a knife in his hands to finish off the job.

"Y/N!" I yelled as I saw her brace herself for the blow. Luckily, I was quicker and webbed him to the floor behind her. As I ran up to her, she lowered the arm that she was using to shield herself and grabbed my wrist as I put my hand to her face.

Breathing heavily our eyes locked and I asked, "Are you okay?" She just nodded in response and I helped her up off the ground. We just stood there with the sun rising in each other's arms. Her hands were against my chest and her head fit right underneath my chin. I turned my head back towards the building to see the team.

Nat, Cap, and Tony were heading over as I heard Y/N's voice break the silence, "It's over." I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or Malcolm so I just hugged her a little tighter.

I could hear Tony on the phone as he got closer, "...yeah, one half-fried crazy Hydra doctor...Interrogation and then maximum security...yup," however my attention soon got pulled elsewhere.

Dr. Malcolm started slowly chucking. Y/N and I let go of each other as she walked a little closer to him. "You think this ends with me? Hydra knows about you now...what you can do. You will never win... oh, and whether you want to believe me or not, we never killed your brother" When she was about to respond he cut her off by saying, "Hail Hydra," as we heard a crunch in his mouth. A couple of seconds later he was seizing as he foamed at the mouth, and then...nothing.

Before Y/N could react, Widow and Cap had made their way over. Nat bent down and pressed two fingers to his neck. "He's dead," was all she said. I inched back up to Y/N's side so I could see her face and it looked like she just saw a ghost. I put one arm behind her and the other on her shoulder and began to lead her away from his dead body.

Tony walked up next to Rogers with his hands at his sides. "On second thought... just tell Fury we are gonna need to clean up... yes, and detainment for the soldiers."

Tony, Nat, and Steve all gave each other glances and looked back at us. Y/N didn't notice but I stared back waiting for what they were thinking.

"Why don't you guys go home. We'll finish things up here." I looked at them so shocked that I just got out of clean up duty that I didn't move for a second before Steve continued, "get her back to rest...it's been a long night...for all of us." He was right.

I looked back to Y/N and I could tell she was so worn down. Her eyes were heavy and her legs were wobbly. I almost forgot that she literally died and came back to life. On top of it all, she used insane amounts of power and that asshat had just dropped another bomb on her.

She looked back up at me with tired, puppy dog eyes, and wrapped her arms back around my neck. "Can we just go," she said loud enough so only my super hearing could hear her say it.

I wrapped one arm tightly behind her back, and raised the other, and shot a web off onto a nearby building. I could feel her heartbeat against my own chest as we swung through the city. A couple of hours ago, she didn't even have a pulse and now here we are. I held her against me even tighter, afraid of letting her go ever again.

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Published: 6/21/2020