Age Of Miracles | Pietro Maximoff

Chapter Seventeen: The Entire Universe Stands In Grave Peril

Music is "Light Is Green" by Kazuma Jinnouchi from the Halo 5: Guardians OST.

Picture is Colin Morgan as Vlad Penrose-Spencer aka Vampire.

· ~ · ~ · ~ · ~ ·

"The entire universe stands in grave peril."

- Thanos

· ~ · ~ · ~ · ~ ·

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Clint leads us through the corridors to the large, open lobby of the WCA Base. People are bustling around, busy doing work that needs to be done; some are shouting orders while others are doing said orders. The entire facility is surrounded by one-way glass that shows the Pacific around us.

In the center of the large space is a line of silver statues: from right to left they are Vision, Wanda, Steve, me, Pietro, Rhodey, and Clarke, the mutant who gave his life to save ours in the Battle of Prison 42. We're lined up, hands holding the ones beside us, and we look to sky. Draped over us is the flag of our home countries: the American flag for Steve, Rhodey, and I; the Philippine flag for Clarke, the World flag for Vision, and the old Sokovian flag for the Maximoff twins, not the new flag of the Republic of Sokovia that my family and I helped create.

I stumble to a stop in front of the ten feet tall piece of art, wondering how many people see this every day. Hundreds, maybe even thousands. "Tony paid to have them put in," Clint whispers to me. "He wanted the world to remember you. There's a statue of Aspen Penrose-Spencer in the conference room; that's where we're heading." We join the ground a few feet away once again. "Ready to meet her again?"

I take a deep breath in, nodding slowly. We keep walking around the large statues, going to the other side of the facility. We take an anti-gravity elevator up to the second flood, where Clint says the conference room is. Once right outside, I can hear indistinctive chatter on the other side of the high-tech door. Clint scans his eye on the security pannel at the entrance; it shines green, and the door pops open. "Access granted," the same robotic voice that lowered us into the facility orders. "Welcome, Hawkeye."

The door slides away into the wall, and the small party of heroes enter the room. It's an oval shape, the only pieces of furnature being the large oval conference table, the dozens of chairs at said table, and the silver statues of Aspen Penrose-Spencer, Peggy Carter, King T'Chaka of Wakanda, and Phil Coulson; Aspen and Peggy are at the far ends of the table, whereas Coulson and T'Chaka are at the narrow sides.

Peggy is in her World War II uniform, saluting with her right hand while holding the S.H.I.E.L.D. flag in her left, the tattered SSR symbol at her feet. Along the base of her statue is the word "Strength." King T'Chaka wears a suit and holds a clenched fist close to his chest so you can see the ring of the Black Panther on his finger. The word at the base of his monument is "Justice." Coulson wears his usual Men In Black style suit, his arms folded to his chest; along the base of his statue, you can see the symbols of the original six Avengers, as well as the word "Unity." Aspen--my oldest, truest friend--wears a long, flowing dress and her hair is long and braided elven style, just like when she was alive. Her hands are held together to her solar plexus, inside them cradling a small, injured bird. Along her memorial is the word "Compassion."

"The queens and kings of deplomacy," Clint nods to the statues, answering my unasked question. "They're in the conference room for a reason; they're here to remind us of what we can do to prevent the wars we might start in order to not have more memorial statues like these. Carter reminds us to be strong, His Highness T'Chaka reminds us to be just, Coulson reminds us to be unified, and Aspen reminds us to be compassionate."