Vanished {Pietro Maximoff}

Chapter 20

Alex was running for her life, something she hadn't done in a while but it certainly wasn't something she missed doing.

She had tried to teleport to just outside the Avengers building, wanting to be available as backup, but the entire outside of the building was swarming with Ultron sentries. With only one knife on her, she knew she couldn't last long. Quick thinking was the only way Alex could think and she'd realised teleporting would only leave her more vulnerable.

There was also her hesitation to leave the vicinity of the tower completely, still some hope in her heart that one of the Avengers or the twins had escaped too.

Alex could feel the cardigan covering her face slipping from the sweat running down her face. Desperately, she tried to tighten it by putting one end of the knot in her mouth and pulling the other end with her hand, but it was hard for her to keep running straight while doing so. Stopping was her only choice if she wanted to remain anonymous, there were crowds of people swarming around her, drawn to the chaos happening at the tower like moths to a flame.

Someone screamed and Alex spun around to look for the cause. An Ultron was flying directly towards Alex, wielding a spear-like weapon in front of him like a bayonet. It was different from the other ones Alex had seen— it's face elongated outwards and painted with garish stripes, like a child's gas mask.

"Frank!" A child had stumbled out of the crowd, holding a cheap Captain America shield in front of them and, by extension, Alex.

Alex was still stood in the same spot, unsure what was going to happen next. Then the Ultron's mouth twisted upwards; a smile not as grotesque as its creator but still something that sent chills up Alex's back. The spear in its hand was raised, aiming at the child.

Alex teleported forwards but the spear was moving too fast. Instead of teleporting them both away, Alex shoved the child onto the floor; the spear barely missing the child and catching Alex's left arm, slicing the skin open.

"Vai a farti fottere, stronzo! Lascia stare il mio braccio sinistro." The next time Alex saw Ultron, she was ripping that bastards left arm off. The child was looking wide-eyed at Alex and Alex returned the look, slightly panicked as she asked,

"You know Italian?"

"No."

"Thank fuck."  That was meant to be said in Italian and the child's eyes widened, almost impossibly, more. No one could get too annoyed at her, Alex rationalised, there were more important things to be dealing with than a child learning a swear word.

The spear throwing Ultron was advancing and Alex teleported the knife on her back into her hand. One well-aimed throw and it was down, but Alex could already see more flying towards her to take its place.

The kid was looking at her, slightly slack-jawed, "You saved me."

"Stay in school and stay away from radiation."

Ultron had known Alex wouldn't be able to resist saving someone, especially a child. It was every superheroes fatal flaw; the belief that one life was as important as a thousand. True, Alex hadn't always been like that but in her need to be a better person, she found herself taking more and more sacrifices.

There was no way to ensure civilians wouldn't get hurt, Ultron had made it clear that there was no sympathy held for anyone. Alex had to get away from them all and it didn't look like there were any other escapees of the attack on Avengers tower.