Age of Glory | Pietro Maximoff

Chapter Thirty-Five: There Are No Other Options

Picture is unknown.

Music is "Odessy" by Hi Finesse.

All rights go to their rightful owners.

· ~ · ~ · ~ ·

"And we win. There are no other options." ~Steve Rogers

· ~ · ~ · ~ ·

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

The Quinjet lands with a thud on the pavement of a torn up Manhattan. The dust doesn't settle when the doors open. The debris is clouding the sherbet and strawberry sunrise. A dark and eerie spirit is clouding over the city today.

This is doomsday, Armageddon, apocalypse, the end of this world. A new age will begin, and it will be built on the rubble of what happens this day. We are the fathers and mothers of tomorrow.

I take Pietro's hand and hold it tightly. Aspen comes up beside me to grasp mine, her fingers woven through mine. It's too quiet on this day's dawn. You would think the end if this age would be chaotic and loud, making every noise and every effort to stop the demise.

But there's nothing. No shadowy figures that we saw on the television, no haughty Black Death to brag about his win. Something is very, very wrong.

Pietro squeezes my hand, attempting to reassure me. "It will be okay," he whispers to me.

"It's too quiet," I mumble.

"Way too quiet," Carol says. "Steve, make your call."

"We follow the plan," he says, walking out in front of us. "Like we said earlier, let's-"

Steve is cut off my an alarm sounding. Bright red flashes of light cross the sky, and we all hear screeching and demonic cries over the horizon.

"What the hell was that?" Sam asks, on edge.

More cries come closer and closer to us, not yet visible. "I have a feeling we will be expecting company," Thor says. "I suggest we attack first."

"Friday," Tony says, "get the Quinjet out of here!"

"Ey Sir," Friday says, turning the auto pilot on and flying the Quinjet to safety.

The skyline of broken buildings starts to turn black, as if a huge shadow is being cast upon it. There are no clouds, no planes, no objects of any kind to cause such a darkness. "What the hell is that?" Maria asks.

"Some kind of shadow," Nat replies.

I look closer, using my telescopic vision, and see individual shadow creatures running like a heard of deer towards us.

"That isn't a normal shadow. Those are the shadows! Black Death's darkness creatures!"

Wanda steps out from the group and holds up her hands, creating a wall of red magic between us and the shadow forces about fifty yards away. They crawl at the barrier, trying to find a way through, around, under, or above. Wanda continues to stretch the barrier out, the weight of the feat taking a significant tole.

"Go! All of you!" she shouts. "Go around! I can hold them!"

"Sister-!" Pietro says.

"Pietro Maximoff! Go get to Black Death. I can handle this!"

"I will stay with her, Pietro," Vision says, flying to land beside her. "I will protect her with my life."

Pietro runs up to Wanda and kisses her cheek, then turning to Vision, he says, "If anything happens to her at all, anything, I will hold you responsible for the rest of my life."