The fallout from Washington kept us moving for the better part of a year. With HYDRA's network out in the open, the Avengers had a clear map to every hidden bunker on the planet. The remaining cell leaders knew they were out of time.
Wolfgang von Strucker had dug into his mountain outpost in Sokovia, spending months reinforcing the stone walls just to wait for the hit.
Tony and the rest of the team took the front door. Out in the snow, they were tearing the woods apart. The ground shuddered every time the Hulk slammed through armored vehicles, and the cracks of repulsor blasts and mortar fire rolled down the valley. They were a massive distraction, pulling every gun in the fortress toward the woods.
And I took my own way in.
Just walked straight through the crossfire in the tree line, keeping my pace through the smoke and stray bullets. A heavy machine-gun nest in a stone pillbox spotted me and opened fire. The rounds tore through the pine branches, flying straight at me.
I didn't slow down.
I caught their momentum and pushed it back the way it came. The rounds snapped around in mid-air and slammed straight into the pillbox. The gunner dropped instantly. The nest went silent.
Kept walking.
Eventually I found a reinforced bunker entrance buried under the snow. The blast doors were sealed.
I pressed my will against it.
The frame groaned before buckling outward and tearing completely off its hinges. The doors crashed onto the snow. I stepped over the twisted frame and moved inside.
While Strucker's army watched the sky above, I walked through the lower sub-levels.
The stone corridors were freezing. Men in gear rushed past me in the dim light, hauling crates of ammunition and dragging carts stacked with weapons toward the surface stairwells. Alarms blared overhead. Orders were being shouted in three different languages.
Nobody looked twice at me.
Everyone was too busy trying to hold the base together.
That lasted until a squad of four soldiers turned a corner and spotted me walking the wrong direction.
Their rifles came up instantly.
I didn't stop.
I reached out for the rushing pulse of blood in their necks and forced the pressure upward.
One of them gasped. Another staggered.
Then all four dropped to the ground, unconscious.
I stepped over them and continued deeper into the facility.
That was when I started feeling it.
The scepter.
Even through layers of reinforced concrete, the Stone inside it gave off a strange radiation that pressed faintly against the back of my mind.
I adjusted my path slightly, letting that pull guide me through the maze of tunnels.
But the scepter wasn't the only thing down here.
Two other presences stood out immediately, unusual ones, and I already knew who they were.
Even so, feeling them directly was different.
The closer I got to the holding block, the stronger both sensations became.
I turned down a long hallway lined with observation windows. Emergency lights flashed red across the concrete walls.
At the far end, a heavy steel door hung crooked on its hinges. The locking mechanism had melted from the inside.
I stopped halfway down the corridor.
And waited.
A sudden rush of wind exploded out of the broken doorway.
A silver blur tore down the hallway, cracking the floor tiles with every step. The air pressure alone shoved my coat back.
Pietro.
He saw me standing there and adjusted instantly. His foot hit the wall, using it as leverage before he launched himself straight at my chest.
Fast, ridiculously fast, carrying enough momentum to punch through steel.
I didn't move.
I simply locked the air in front of him into place.
Pietro hit it.
The impact vanished.
All that speed disappeared as if it had been swallowed by empty space.
For a split second he just hung there before gravity caught him.
He dropped hard onto the cracked tiles, boots sliding as he struggled to keep his balance. When he looked up at me his chest was heaving, confusion spreading across his face as his mind tried to understand what had just happened.
"What the hell..."
Before he could finish the sentence, red light flared behind him.
A pulse of energy pushed down the corridor.
Wanda stepped out of the shattered cell.
Her hands were already glowing, jagged strands of red energy twisting around her fingers and making the air feel heavier. She moved immediately, placing herself between Pietro and me with her shoulders squared and her eyes locked on mine.
Up close they looked worse than the files suggested, pale, exhausted, and far too thin. Whatever Strucker had done to them had pushed both of them far past normal limits.
I let the pressure in the hallway dissolve and relaxed my stance slightly.
"Easy," I said.
Pietro blinked hard, still trying to process the invisible wall he had just slammed into.
"Pietro, you're moving too fast."
His eyes narrowed.
"You know my name."
He pushed himself upright, breathing hard.
"Who the hell are you?"
Wanda didn't look away from me. Her fingers tightened as the red glow around her hands sharpened.
"Answer him."
"I'm not with Strucker."
A heavy explosion shook the ceiling above us and dust rained down from the concrete beams.
I tilted my head slightly toward the noise.
"You hear that?"
Neither of them answered.
"The Avengers," I said. "They're already inside."
Pietro wiped sweat from his forehead as his breathing slowly steadied.
"This is our home."
"No," I said softly. "It isn't."
He frowned.
"It's a cage."
His jaw tightened as another explosion hook the mountain.
"The walls are coming down."
Wanda spoke again.
"And we're supposed to believe you?"
I shrugged.
"You don't have to."
Another shockwave rattled the corridor.
"But Strucker's already running."
That made both of them hesitate.
"He's loading transports," I continued. "Getting ready to disappear."
Pietro shook his head.
"No."
His voice came out harsher this time.
"You're lying."
"Maybe."
I stepped forward.
Wanda's hands came up instantly, red energy flaring brighter.
I didn't stop.
The glow washed across my coat as I walked past them.
Pietro muttered something under his breath.
I stopped a few steps down the hall and pointed toward the stairwell behind them.
"Service tunnel."
They didn't move.
"Down there," I said.
Wanda glanced toward the stairs before looking back at me.
"And then what?"
"Then you leave."
Pietro frowned.
"That's it?"
"Yeah."
I turned slightly toward the tunnel.
"Stay alive."
I gestured toward the exit.
"And figure out what you want to be."
I turned away and continued down the corridor toward the main research labs.
The red light faded behind me.
By the time I reached the far intersection, the hallway had gone quiet again.
I glanced back once.
The corridor was empty.
Only dust drifted slowly across the broken floor.
[
For more chapters, access my patreon
Link: https://patreon.com/WonderingWriter
]