shards - pietro maximoff

chapter sixteen ; attacks and advice

"Alright, Anelace, come with me. They'll hesitate before attacking you the most, I want yours to be one of the first faces they see." Steve instructed, and Dahlia swallowed hard, feeling Pietro's grip on her hand.

"Well that's a comforting thought."

Dahlia looked toward Pietro, who looked to be about two seconds away from getting her the hell out of there. He didn't like this plan one bit, but it was to be expected. He wouldn't like any sort of plan that would put her in danger without him beside her to prevent it.

"I'll be fine, Speedy. I can take care of myself." She put on a smile just for him, though she wasn't really ecstatic about this idea either.

Pietro looked at her, his expression softening at her smile. "I know you can."

"Are we all good? The chopper's out there, we'll try to make our way over there, but in case they get in our way, which they probably will, we'll distract them and try to move Bucky out to the ship."

"I hate being the reason you're all doing this." Bucky grumbled, and Dahlia made it her mission to make him stop feeling guilty.

"Don't worry, Bucky, you're not the only reason. I don't know about the others, but I'm in this for the popcorn Clint promised me, so don't feel guilty!"

A small smile graced his face, and Dahlia felt confident she had done her job.

Steve looked at Bucky for a second, not used to seeing him look like anything other than angry or hurt since he had come out of the ice.

"Okay, Dahlia, let's get going. Everyone else, follow the plan, and if anything goes wrong, listen to..." Steve hesitated, looking at the group. "Never mind, you're all irresponsible, listen to me."

"Ouch, Cap! I'm wounded!" Pietro put a hand to his chest, fake-falling onto Wanda for support.

"Wanda, make sure your idiot brother doesn't get himself killed, please." Dahlia teased.

"No promises, he's really stupid." Wanda replied, a smirk playing on her lips.

She smiled at the twins and ran to catch up with Cap, who was already far ahead of her, making his way into the airport.

"I miss her." Pietro pouted and his sister rolled her eyes.

"Suck it up."

•

Dahlia and Steve made their way across the airport, running through an underpass and jogged onto a private runway, headed for the nearby helicopter.

Just as they were about to reach it, the chopper was hit with an electro-disabler, effectively shutting it off.

Dahlia audibly groaned, knowing that with annoyingly-effective technology came Tony Stark.

Sure enough, two robotic suits landed in front of them, one silver, one red and gold.

Rhodey and Tony.

"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?" Tony quipped, and she could practically hear the smirk on his face, though he had the helmet on.

"Definitely weird." Rhodey said back.

"How long did you practice that on the flight here?" Dahlia snorted.

"That's beside the point." Tony dismissed her comment, leaving Dahlia with a grin, knowing she was right.

Steve tried to reason with them. "Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this."