Eminent Silence

by Tristan Carey

  Taking a second to catch my breath, I shook myself over. The floor started to rupture at my feet, and I ran.

  No, not what. Who.

  Wanda and Pietro.

  The realization that I'd forgotten such a crucial part of my plan was almost devastating. I had operated this far without realizing I needed to backtrack to get the Maximoff twins out as well.

  I didn't know how to do it. I mean, I knew the layout of the Crucible like the back of my hand. But the lab where Wanda and Pietro was located had stronger security than where I was. Escaping with the twins would be far more noticeable than if I just left on my own.

  My odds were dwindling by the second. No plan ever survived first contact. Something was bound to go wrong. Sooner or later, someone would notice the escape attempt, and I doubt I'd be lucky enough for it to happen after I'd already escaped. I had only once chance at this. Going back for the twins might mean complete failure.

  It might mean I'd end up in Cold Storage. Forever.

  I hesitated, unable to move, unable to decide. Two halves fighting for dominance. The cold agent determined to survive, who only functioned through pure efficiency, no mercy. Going back for the twins was too big a risk. I couldn't let sentimentality get in the way of freedom.

  The other half, the real me, refused to abandon them. Not after everything we'd been through together. Not after all the pain, the torment. There were moments here in the Crucible that I wouldn't have survived had it not been for them. They were the last shred of humanity in the Crucible. The only good to be found here.

  If it was Peter, I'd go back for him in a second. Not even the Crucible agent inside of me could fight against that.

  Wanda and Pietro were no different.

  They were my family.

  I turned around, away from the stairways, away from a direct exit. I headed deeper into the Crucible.

  I found myself in a boiler room.

  It was already in disarray. Half the ceiling had fallen, revealing the floor above. The hot steam was a welcome, if slightly uncomfortable change to being in Cold Storage, but I knew I wasn't safe. Half the lights were out. I could barely see, and the fog of steam wasn't helping. And the noise only continued. I couldn't hear my own heartbeat.

  Taking care to pick my away across knee-high debris, and praying that Wanda and Pietro hadn't ended up underneath, I navigated the boiler room. It was much smaller than Cold Storage maybe only twenty feet across. I found another guard, caught under a beam. Unlike the others, his death looked like an accident. It occurred to me that I had no idea how many had been here to escort the twins. The Crucible regarded them as incredibly dangerous. Would they really only send five guards to watch them?

  Well, they were stupid enough to escape the first time, so it was hard to tell.

  That's when I heard a muffled grunt, somewhere ahead. Heart skipping a beat, I raised my shield, dropped back on one foot, and slowed my pace. Someone was here. A guard? It sounded male. Or maybe it was just the pipes. Two of the boilers were broken, making all kinds of sounds. In the heat of the moment, it wouldn't be unreasonable to mistake a mechanical noise for a human one.

  I had to squint through the dark fog to see anything. I could barely make out what was ahead of me. Something flickered in the shadows. Soft footsteps, an intake of breath. I paused.

  Should I call out again? No. If it's a Crucible guard, then I'd want the element of surprise.

  Taking a deep breath and steeling my nerves, I jumped down the pile of rubble, and slammed directly into something. 'Gah!'

  I recoiled, as did the something — or rather, someone. They let out a string of Sokovian curses, and it took me a second to see in the new darkness.

  'Pietro?'

  'Motherf- Amelia?' Pietro shook his head, stumbling back when I grabbed his arms, making sure he was the real thing. His face was covered in soot, and there was a new cut on his forehead. His leg was bandaged where the Winter Soldier had shot him, but he was standing again. 'What are you doing here? I thought you escaped!'

  'Amelia? Oh my god —' Wanda appeared behind him. Her shoulder was in a sling. Looked like the Crucible did them a small service. Not that it meant anything. But I was glad to see the spark in her eyes, the energy in her walk as she came around, grabbed me in a one-armed hug, without saying a single word.

  'I-I did get away,' I said, choking a little in Wanda's grip. I was so stunned that it took me a moment to hug her back. 'But I came back for you.'

  'What?' Pietro looked astounded. 'Why?'

  'Do you remember when you asked me about what ohana meant?' I said. 'It doesn't just mean family. It means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten.'

  'W-we are family?' At that, Pietro smiled, and I opened an arm so he'd join the hug as well, and ruffled his hair when he did.

  'You fool,' Wanda said into my shoulder. Despite the words, her voice shook with tears. 'I knew you would come back for us. You shouldn't have, but I knew. Always sentimental.'

  'And now look who's crying,' I teased.

  'But how?' Pietro asked, and both of them withdrew. They shared a curious look, as if it were just now dawning on them. 'You couldn't have come all the way back here by yourself?'

  'No, I didn't,' I said, and the sweetness of the moment faded when I realized that I couldn't take them back with me. 'I came here with SHIELD. I agreed to help them, but I don't trust them. If you end up with them, you'll never get away. They'll think you're too dangerous. So that's why you have to go, now.'

  'Go?' Wanda frowned. 'Go where?'

  'Anywhere. Just not with me.' I could only give them a sad shrug. 'I'm sorry. I know we agreed to go to America, but we can't anymore. SHIELD's onto me now. Because I did this, they'll always be following me. I don't know what will happen to me when I get back. But I know you two can still get away, can still be free. They don't know who you are. I promise, I'll never tell them.'

  'But it's not fair, we can't just leave you —' Pietro started, but I held up my hand.

  'It's fine, Pietro, I know what I did when i made my choice,' I tried to give him a reassuring smile. 'If it's any consolation, SHIELD's loads better than the Crucible. There are good people working for them. Those people I can trust. Maybe. But I know you'd hate it.'

  'Is that why you're dressed like a clown?' Wanda asked, tilting her head.

  I laughed dryly. Her bluntness never got old. 'Uh, yeah. It's one-time only. We decided that if we came here, acting like heroes, we might as well look the part.'

  'Well, I think it suits you,' Pietro said with a grin, earning an elbow in the side from Wanda. 'Ow, what?'

  Wanda just rolled her eyes and spoke to me instead. 'So what does this mean? Will we ever see you again?'

  My arms hung limply at my sides. 'I don't know. Maybe. I hope so. It won't be the same, though. SHIELD's already been watching me. Maybe others, too. I can't make a phone call without someone noticing.'

  'Don't worry, we'll think of something,' Pietro said, and I realized with a sudden pang how much I was going to miss that unerring bravado of his. I wasn't going to anywhere near as unstoppable as I had with Pietro next to me. 'Maybe this will be good, you know? Me and Wanda can go home again.'

  'You want to go back to Novi Grad?' I asked, glancing between the two of them uncertainly.

  'Why not?' Wanda said with a shrug. 'We've seen enough of your world to know what freedom truly is. Our home is still in turmoil, and it needs our help. We were created to destroy, but I know we can fix things, too.'

  The walls shook around us, and I stumbled, falling against a column. Still, I managed to smile. 'That sounds great, Wanda. I think now that the Crucible's gone, Sokovia's going to need all the help it can get.'

  In the distance, I heard a voice call out. I turned my head to Wanda and Pietro. 'You should go now, before SHIELD catches up to me.'

  I tried not to look him in the eye when Pietro hugged me. I hugged back, grip tight. I'd never forget
the worn texture of his jacket, or the funny itch of his hair in my face. I was already doing my best not to cry myself when he told me, 'We will see each other again. I know we will.'

  'Is that a promise?' I asked, my smirk trembling.

  'It is fate,' Pietro pulled back with a grin, giving me an errant salute as he and Wanda started to retreat towards a back door. 'Count me on this.'

  The last thing I saw was Wanda's final wave, and her call, 'We won't forget you.'

  Then a flash of silver.

  They were gone.

  Wanda and Pietro were surprised when they saw me.

  The good thing about the middle of the night meant that there were no scientists in the lab. It had taken me thirty minutes to reach them — thirty excruciating minutes of careful steps, of dodging corners, hiding from patrols, narrowly avoiding an encounter with Savin. Although I had no fear of the Winter Soldier, the Extremis agents would still be a nightmare if I ran into them.

  At least I could run away.

  There was no way to enter the lab unnoticed. I took out the entrance guard with a chokehold, covering his mouth to hide the sound. Then I slipped in, took out the second door guard while his back was to me. A third guard was coming down the aisle of computers. I had crouched down behind a desk, struck out my leg, took him down before he realized I was there.

  The thump of his body alerted Wanda and Pietro that someone else was here. They turned around in their glass cages, piercing eyes squinting into the suddenly empty room.

  Then my head appeared over a computer monitor. Both of their faces split into grins.

  'Amelia!' Wanda and Pietro said in unison, exchanging bewildered looks with each other.

  I gave them a short wave, deciding not to speak. Not just for the sake of stealth, but because speech was still difficult for me, even in a lucid state. I wasn't sure when it would get better. If it would get better.

  But computers still made sense to me. Waking up the monitor before me, it was easy to access the controls, open the doors to the twin's cages. As they tumbled out, a little weak-kneed, I went a step further and entered the security mainframe. A scientist's computer wasn't supposed to do that, but that didn't stop me.

  Knowing time was short, and that unconscious guards would mean a quicker discovery, I decided to forgo a bit of secrecy and disabled all the cameras I could access. Someone may have already noticed that the twin's enclosure had been opened. Better they had no idea where we were heading.

  'Is this it?' Pietro asked as they joined me at the back of the room. 'Are we really leaving now?'

  I could only nod.

  Wanda said, 'You should have given us a warning! We would've been prepared.'

  My apology was a hoarse collection of words. Wanda's brow pinched in worry. I wondered what she saw when she looked into my head. Could she see how hard I was struggling to remain lucid? How I was constantly fighting my programming, just trying to stay on my feet.

  When I straightened up, finished with the computer, I wobbled on my feet. Pietro steadied me with a hand on my shoulder. 'Amelia, are you okay? Your nose is bleeding.'

  I touched a hand to my face. My head was pounding. Memories were shifting all over the place. For a second, I forgot why I was standing here.

  I figured it out pretty quick. My programming was trying to shut me down. My active rebellion was forcing it to stop me by any means necessary. I didn't know what's what Von Strucker had done to me. I didn't how how far it extended. Could my own body kill me before I ever got outside?

  There was no time to waste. To Wanda and Pietro, I said, 'We leave now. Follow me.'

  'Mia?' I heard a voice call, and turned around to see Skye and an unfamiliar man burst into the room. They had to squint through the fog, but they spotted me all the same. 'Mia!'

  Skye grinned, waved as she stepped over. 'God, we thought we lost you! I thought you might've gotten iced in Cold Storage.'

  'No, I'm fine,' I said, frowning at the man behind her. Tall, with dark hair and a square jaw, I immediately pegged him for a SHIELD agent. 'Are you...Ward?'

  He gave me a short nod. His face was bruised, and there was a bad cut across his nose. He wore what was left of a suit, sans jacket, shirt sleeves rolled up. He scanned the room, a pistol in hand. 'Agent Ward, in service to SHIELD. You must be the super soldier kid Skye's been blabbing about.'

  'I wasn't blabbing,' Skye retorted, annoyed, before tripping over the feet of the dead guard. When she realized what it was, she jumped back. 'Oh, shit!'

  'What the hell happened here?' Ward asked when he saw the body.

  'Wasn't me,' I said immediately. 'I followed the twins down here, but it looks like they escaped on their own. Th-they're long gone.'

  'You never saw them?' Skye asked, and when I shook my head she gave me a sympathetic look. She probably mistook the pain of saying good-bye as having missed Wanda and Pietro entirely. 'Sorry, Mia. Hopefully they got out all right.'

  'You sure you didn't see anything?' Ward asked, doubtful. 'I mean, you haven't checked the whole floor, have you?'

  'No, but I don't think —' I raised the shield to block falling debris as the ceiling collapsed further overhead. '— We have the time. This whole place is coming down, we need to get out as fast as possible.'

  'I'm with Mia on this one,' Skye said.

  Ward rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath,'Of course you are. No one ever listens to me.'

  'Cold Storage is completely wrecked, though,' Skye told me. 'There's no way we're getting back out the same way we came in.'

  'It's fine, I know another way,' I said, and lead them out the same back door Wanda and Pietro left in. They must be halfway to Novi Grad by now.

  Sneaking around was much easier on my own.

  Wanda and Pietro had no notion of it. They were never taught, and I had to guide them carefully back the way we came. It was a bit faster now that we didn't have cameras to worry about, but guards were still a problem. Each had a radio on them. A single push of the button would send out a compound-wide alert. All entrances and exits would be sealed.

  We did it, though. We had to. We'd come too far, suffered too much not to see it through now.

  The closer we got the door with the flaking green paint, the worse my headache got. My nose hadn't stopped bleeding. It was dripping down onto my white shirt. We were all wearing thin cotton clothes; it wouldn't be enough for the eternal winter outside the Crucible.

  But it wasn't me I was worried about. Training with the Winter Soldier, I (and the other scientists) discovered that I was nearly immune to low temperatures. Was it natural, or had I just grown a tolerance? Who knows. What I did know was that Wanda and Pietro were unlikely to be as lucky as me.

  When we got out, we'd have to be fast. We'd have to find shelter soon. And food. And build a fire. And —

  This line of thought distracted me. It was worse with the pain in my head. Enough that I didn't notice the figure appearing out of the corner of my eye, and only realized what it was a second too late.

  A shout went up. 'Hey! Stop right there!'

  Before I could react, Wanda had sent a fiery burst of energy at the guard. I had taken off her power-inhibitor collar. Pietro told me to free her first. Was still working on his as we worked our way out.

  The guard slammed against the wall. Slumped to the ground. But it was too late. He had already reached his radio receiver.

  The halls erupted with the noise of sirens.

  'Fitz and Gemma are waiting for us outside!' Ward reported as we dashed up a narrow flight of steps.

  'We're almost there!' I called back.

  These were the maintenance pathways that ran along the edges of the Crucible compound. Thin, economical, forcing us to move single-file. It was inefficient but at least the area was a little more stable.

  For now.

  We were running full speed. I was in front, with a great lead. I didn't worry too much about leaving Ward
and Skye behind. Although they weren't as fast, they weren't being slowed down by anything.

  Still, I probably should've stayed closer to them.

  The end of this maintenance hall ended in block. Rubble had fallen, forcing us to turn right into a larger room. An armory. Benches and cabinets lined the room. Many had tipped over or broken. Guns, weapons, ammunition littered the floor. I skidded, nearly tripped on a spilled box of cartridges.

  But that wasn't what made me stop.

  The floor was shaking again.

  'Shit!' Ward called.