Vanished {Pietro Maximoff}

Chapter 9

Alex sat up, gasping loudly. Craig was stood over her, holding his phone and Alex could hear Sam still speaking from it.

"Alessandra, what happened?" Craig was crouching down by her immediately, surprisingly athletic for his age, "Sam, she's awake."

"I have to go."

Craig didn't seem to hear her, still speaking rapidly, "I wanted to call an ambulance but Sam said no. He's on his way but there's traffic."

"I have to go." Alex flexed her wrist, testing if she could teleport yet. She felt a slight tug as she snapped her fingers and envisioned moving slightly to the right but even that made her feel sick.

"No, you're staying here. Sam will be here within half an hour. I said to him he had until then to get here, otherwise I'm calling an ambulance and they can look after you. You had a nasty fall, and you looked peaky before that."

"Peaky?"

"Ill. Sick."

Alex stood up and her head immediately rushed. She stumbled forward and Craig caught her arm. Alex knew she had to leave, get somewhere safe before Ultron found her. Her memory was still spotty, only vaguely remembering fighting some robots that looked like Ultron and some of the information Natasha had told her about him. It would all come back eventually, but Alex needed a rest before that would happen.

"You were out for a good few minutes. That's why I was going to call an ambulance, they say you should if you're out longer than a few seconds but Sam told me you probably just fell asleep. Then he confessed you didn't have any medical insurance and I had a good go at him. Not having medical insurance! Especially for someone like you, who gets in scrapes every other day."

"Yeah, Craig, I know." Alex wondered if she could make a run for it. Craig was distracted, listening to whatever Sam was saying on the phone. She was about to try and leave when Craig held the phone out to her,

"Sam wants to speak to you."

Taking the phone, Alex spoke quickly, "Sam, someone's coming for me."

"What?"

"I don't know how, but I was in this room— like a prison room and Ultron was there. He was talking to this woman, asking if she could bring me to them. I don't know why, but she couldn't and so they're coming to me."

"Are you sure this isn't an old memory?"

"No, one of them was definitely like a robot. I recognised him too. I kinda remember what happened but not enough."

"Listen up, Ketchup. I want you to get to the Natural History museum, I'll meet you out front. I shouldn't be too long and there'll be crowds around at this time."

"I can't teleport."

"Then steal a bike. You've been into space, I think you can handle this mission."

Instinctively, Alex wanted to point out that she'd been in space for less than a second so it didn't really count but Sam didn't give her time too as he hung up.

Alex handed the phone back, forcing a wide smile, "Thanks Craig, I'll see you later."

"But Alessandra—"

"I'm meeting Sam somewhere else, thanks for your help though." She scattered the remaining bird seed on the ground and began to walk in the direction of the nearest exit. Craig was still talking behind her but he was easily ignored, even if it made Alex feel a little bit bad.

It technically wasn't a long walk to the museum, but Alex didn't usually walk around New York, especially at this time where the darkness was beginning to spread.

She was utterly exhausted at this point and half tempted to let Ultron get her just so she could have a nap. Something really bad must have happened to Alex to have her amnesia to strike again— the last time it had happened, she and Tony had had a fight and when he tried to lock her in her room, she'd accidentally teleported to Florida and forgotten the past few days.

It took a while for her to get back to a safe headspace after that, and many nights staying over at Sam's before she could even feel safe enough to enter her bedroom again.

Tony hadn't spoken to her for a few weeks after that, forcing Pepper to reassure Alex that she hadn't done anything wrong, Tony was just angry at himself for hurting her— even if he hadn't meant it. It got so bad that at one point, Steve had come home early from a mission to take Alex away from Stark Tower so she didn't have to see Tony in the terrible state he was in.

Alex was nearly there, she could see the first entrance to the museum. Sam was right that there were crowds of people, but Alex still felt as though she was standing out too much.

After many years of pain and self doubt, Alex had learnt to love herself and call herself beautiful even if no one else saw it. Her confidence was usually unmatched, but that was only when she wasn't in a mask. All the Avengers had a role, a gimmick and Tony had unfortunately taken the 'confident' one which meant Alex was restricted to being the 'wise for her age child'. When she wasn't hiding, she loved to show off but that was now a disadvantage as a few people turned to look at her. It wasn't many, but it was enough to make her feel very exposed.

Alex was even more tempted because of that to put her suit fully on. The cold was getting worse. December had only just begun and while it was still relatively sunny during days, the earlier sunsets meant it got cold a whole lot faster.

No, Alex decided, after fidgeting with one of the arms on her suit. Sam would be here to pick her up soon and no doubt she could convince him to stop and let her get a coffee before they tried to figure out where the Avengers was.

Comforted by that thought, Alex walked the last few steps to the entrance and went to sit on the floor.

A blue blur spiralled past her before she could and Alex was stunned by a strong punch to her chin. She looked around while rubbing it, trying to spot whoever had done that.

A whirl of wind and aura blew past her and this time three punches hit her back, nose and head. Alex forced herself into a defensive stance and prepared for another hit that didn't come.

People were looking over at her, she could even see one of them pulling a coin out of their pocket as though she was merely busking and acting for their entertainment.

The blue came towards Alex again, sweeping her legs and pushing her onto the ground. Someone clapped as a familiar face appeared and Alex felt her stomach sink, like the way his body had the last time they'd met. Everything on the ship came back to her, and the haggard expression on his face scared Alex more than his actual violence,

"You know, you're more beautiful with the mask."

"Oh god," Alex muttered, unsuccessfully trying to stem the flow of blood from her nose and Pietro laughed,

"No, but close."

<~~>

Everything was hazy.

Alex tried to move her hands, but something was holding them down. She was able to raise her fingers slightly, lifting a hand up to her eye level so she could see what had happened. Someone was holding her hands, but the gesture was not friendly. They were like chains, locking her fingers in place so she couldn't do anything.

"Back to sleep, Alessandra." The person restraining her hands chided, slightly tightening their grip and Alex obeyed.