Age of Darkness | Pietro Maximoff

Chapter Seven: I Can Live With That

Music is "Hunted" by Steve Jablonsky from the Transformers: Age of Extinction OST.

Picture is my edit of Roran White aka Whitesmith (top left), Katie Mateese aka Oasis (top right), Morgana Summers aka Hell Child (bottom left), and Cole Roman aka Inkheart (bottom right).

· ~ · ~ · ~ ·

"In one timeline we kiss. But the stars.

In another you set a world on fire for me. But I perish in the flames.

Another and we're strangers on a busy street. Brushing by close enough to send each other reeling off balance but not stopping.

One universe has us right, of all the millions stacked on millions. I can live with that.

Maybe we'll come across each other at the turning of the century, racing across the breeches between worlds.

I'll build my life on that, maybe."

-Unknown

· ~ · ~ · ~ ·

CHAPTER SEVEN

Wanda didn't have to tell me how he was doing. She didn't have to say a word. By the calmness in his eyes and the softness in his voice, all fear, all anxiety had faded away. "I am so sorry," Pietro had said, holding me like he was going to lose me.

"Don't be," I whispered. "I understand."

Pietro gently lets me go, his eyes searching mine. "Are you certain?"

I smile up at him. "Of course. I had a sleepover with Cap. I was in good hands."

Pietro turns to Steve and gives him a nod, silently thanking him. Steve returns it, smiling slightly.

Steve insisted he hang around for a while before he left for the Avengers Tower 2.0. He said that if anything were to happen, Nat would call and inform us.

We didn't even get thirty minutes before his cell phone rang. "Nat?" Steve answers. His face suddenly falls, going into grim appearance that never means anything good. "He did what?" Steve continues shouting questions, Nat replying calmly to every one. "Okay, hang tight, Nat. We're coming." He hits the end button and turns to us. "Pietro, Wanda, Vision, suit up. We have a problem."

"I'm coming, too," I argue, standing up.

"No," Steve orders in a stern voice. "You can't."

Frowning, I retort, "Like hell I'm not. I'm an Avenger-"

"-It's Magneto, Glory," Steve says, not dropping his Captain attitude. "I won't jeopardize you and your twins' safety. Stay here or go to the Tower, it makes no difference to me, but you're not going in the field, understood?"

I grumble a sigh. "Fine."

· ~ · ~ · ~ ·

"Fill me in, Nat," Steve says as we enter the building.

The Russian redhead is sitting at the control pannel, typing at the speed of light. Along beside her are Clint, Scott, Thor, Stephen, and the Next Gen. Mutants. "Magneto is attacking Starks buildings all at once. He has an army at his disposal. Mutants that he's broken out of confinement and one's we've never seen before." She turns to Steve. "We have to be careful. This could end in a massacre."

"Remember what I told you about Erik," I say, making myself known from behind Pietro and Steve. "He will do anything for mutants. Kill, kidnap, torture, burn to the ground. If he thinks he had a chance for mutant domination, he will take it."