Chapter Twenty-One
✭

So Cold / Breaking Benjamin

No one moved.

So silent. The three of us, me and the twins, stood in a tight circle, surrounded on all conceivable sides. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to escape. To jump from this train meant certain death. Either we fell thousands of feet into the snow landscape, or become a Jackson Pollock between the train and the rock wall.

I didn't take my eyes off of Brandt, if only because I knew her. Well, I didn't know her, and in fact I recognized almost all the faces here from the streets of Novi Grad, but she was the only one whose name I had. Something about her screamed dominance, however — maybe it was the way she held herself, shoulders back, relaxed arms; or maybe it was the scars across her mouth, and ironic smile on her lips, like she had a witty, cruel joke just on the tip of her tongue.

In those few hair-raising moments of utter stillness, I tried to figure out what was going on. Why hadn't the Vulkan attacked us yet? The explosion could've killed us, certainly, but it hadn't. Now they had us surrounded. The odds definitely weren't on our side here.

No one moved. I felt Wanda's hand brush against mine. The point where skin touched sparked bright red — I didn't have to look around to tell if her eyes were red, or that she was spinning webs of magic through her fingers. Pietro, likewise, was unusually still, especially for him. Everything from him was careful, cautious. He was holding himself back. I could practically hear his atoms vibrating, stress and tension just ready to break into action.

A low dread hung in the air. One way or another, this wasn't going to end peacefully. Not if the twins had any say in it, at least.

Brandt broke the silence first.

"This can go one of two ways, Amelia," she called out, her voice carrying well despite the whistling wind. Her short red hair, whipping behind her head, was a violent splash of color against the cold white mountains. "The smart way, or the fun way. It's up to you."

She was speaking in English again, as if she knew that would get to me easier. Well, it worked. The air had sucked all the moisture out of my mouth, so I had nothing left but to swallow on a dry, frozen throat. "Do I want to know what the fun way is?"

"You don't remember?" Brandt tilted her head curiously, a grin spreading across her features, making my gut twist in trepidation. "None of the training matches, nothing what I taught you? No? Well, I thought the rumors were exaggerating, but I guess it's true — your memories really are gone! I wonder how that happened."

At this, she threw a pointed look over my shoulder, but I didn't have the luxury of following her gaze. I wasn't risking a blind spot just to follow along. She was looking at Wanda. I couldn't keep the stutter from slipping into my voice. "Y-you trained me?"

"Why, yes," Brandt's eyes flicked back to me, again with that sharp-toothed grin. "Well, I wasn't the only one. You were such a good little soldier, Amelia. But lately you've been a very bad girl, ever since you let those two get into your head."

"I don't need them to know I want nothing to do with you or the Chairman," I snapped, my hands clenching at my sides.

"Oh, now that hurts," Brandt pouted mockingly at me, pressing a hand to her chest as if I just made a personal offense. "I'm going to have to ask you to apologize."

"What?" I scoffed, threw her a disbelieving look.

"You heard me," Brandt said, her voice remaining even as she lowered her arms. The veins running down her wrist started to glow — first orange, then bright gold, as the skin of her hands turned a translucent red, cracked like lava. "Apologize, now. Use that head of yours and remember that I am the last person you want to piss off here, yeah? Show me you can still be obedient, and I can promise you a less…severe punishment for going AWOL. And maybe I'll leave the two freaks a little singed."

I didn't answer right away. Was there really a choice in this? Before I had doubted that these agents, whatever they were, would kill the twins. But the way Brandt spoke, implied that their health wasn't nearly as prioritized as mine was.

Or maybe Brandt was just a sadistic monster.

I clenched my fists. "No."

"Oh yay," she said. "The fun way it is, then."

Probably that last one, then.

"Let me guess," Pietro said in a low voice, as the agents started advancing on us, simultaneously bursting into flames. "It didn't go well?"

"What gave it away?" I replied, pressing back a little as Brandt narrowed down on me. The other two on her heels were equally imposing, particularly the one chewing gum, with the shaved head. I definitely didn't like him, just on looks alone. "Was it the exploding train or their friendly faces that clued you in first?"

I never got a reply. Pietro had already taken off.

A shout behind me.

Then all chaos broke loose.

To say the situation was precarious would be putting it lightly. I didn't like fighting to begin with, so you could imagine how much I appreciated going toe-to-toe with a bunch of very hot, very psychotic agents on top of a swaying train car hanging over the edge of a steep mountainside.

Here's a little hint: No.

Brandt came at me first. I dodged the first swipe and ducked under the second, before grabbing her by the front of her clothes and throwing her overhead. Brandt twisted in midair, like an acrobat, before landing on her feet, one train car ahead. There, the other half-dozen agents were in battle with the twins, who filled the air with flashes of scarlet and silver.

Watching her arc through the air, my head was turned and I didn't anticipate the following attack. A hot grip got me by the back of the neck. I cried out at the scalding touch, before reaching up behind my head and grabbing the offender by the arm and shoulder. Fast, I dropped to my knees, taking him over and flipping him on his back to the ground in front of me. Snow blew away from impact, and I cut around, sweeping my leg to knock over the third male agent coming up directly behind the second one.

Two agents on the ground. I dealt with the one I took out first. The bubble-gum-chewing one. He seemed only mildly dazed, and when our eyes met, he grinned at me, all pearly-white teeth and searing red eyes. "Miss me, sweetheart?"

I blinked at him startled. Those words, that voice, tickled something in the back of my head. "Savin?"

The name left my lips before I could think of what it meant, or what it was. A name? His name?

He only smiled wider, showing the wad of gum clenched in his teeth. "Aww, you do remember me!"

There was something cloyingly sweet and insincere in those words, a thin veil covering something cold and awful beneath. Not convinced.

How did I know him? I mean Savin in particular, why did I remember his name but none of the others? Not even Brandt was that special, apparently.

I grit my teeth, and delivered a punch straight into that mug. "Hardly."

Savin grunted when my fist met his nose, ripping away, just in time for me to get kicked in the gut. I gasped, rolling over, looking up to see the third agent standing over me, raising his boot again.

He didn't get a chance to strike before a red bolt shot through the air and slammed into his chest. The agent's cry was sucked away by the wind as he was thrown from my field of vision.

I jolted up, looking to the right, where the attack had come from. My eyes found Wanda, three cars down. She was still turned in my direction, her arms raised. She gave me a quick nod, before blasting another agent off the train, into the ravine below.

Yikes.

I wasn't trying particularly hard to kill anyone as I continued to fight, scrambling further up the train to regroup with the twins. I mean, actually kill someone? I had specifically avoided picking up any guns during the battle in Sokovia, I wasn't changing that now. I guess it was a little easier here; none of the Vulkan agents here seemed to be armed, in the traditional sense. They all seemed content with trying to burn us alive instead.

Savin was right on my heel, I could practically feel him, the heat of his body, following me. All of the agents had that, these rippling waves just coming off them from all the heat they were generating.

I tried getting distance from him, ducking and weaving between combatants, hoping maybe the twins might take care of him. But Wanda was busy trading magical blasts with fiery one between four other agents, while Pietro was trapped in fight with Brandt and a few others. The train left him with very little space to actually run, and the agents had the clever idea of heating up the metal rooves of the train cars, forcing Pietro to avoid them and come directly into their line of fire.

No, I couldn't make them fight my fights. I had to take care of this myself.

I turned on my heel, coming to a stop so fast that the momentum gave me enough force to spin around and send a round-house kick directly into Savin's chest. He took the blow full on, but only shifted back a few feet before recovering. Didn't even fall back, not even a grunt of pain. His nose had already healed from my earlier blow. I was already reconsidering this fight with a man who weighed twice as much as I did.

Savin came at me like a beast, snarling with a viciousness only seen in wild animals. Hands light up in balls of flame, he made open-handed swipes at me. I had no choice but to avoid them or face serious damage — I couldn't afford taking any blows from these guys. I didn't heal as fast as them, and I really didn't want to know what it was like to have third-degree burns anywhere near my head.

It made it that much harder to fight back. I tried a jab, but had to jump back or take a hit to my chest. I couldn't get too close or else get burned, but how else could I hurt him back? It was a deadly game of back-and-forth.

A kick to the knee here, a punch into the gut there. An elbow jab to the shoulder, knee to the groin, right hook to the jaw. Savin took each of these blows with no sell — I gave him all I was worth, but it was nothing to him. What the hell?

All I really served to do was pissing him off and getting too close. Each consecutive strike just made him scowl deeper. Well, at least I was annoying him.

He had to lower his body temperature in order to grab me without immediate casualty. I gasped as his still-too-hot hands wrapped around my throat and arms. He caught me in the middle of a strike, and forced my arm across my chest, immobilizing me as he drew me in face-to-face.

"Would you kindly," Savin snarled through gritted teeth, his grip around my neck burning as he clenched tighter with each word. "Jump off this train and die?"

I stared at him, my mouth open in a choke, but that didn't stop me from replying. "Sorry. Suicide's just not my style."

I punctuated this with a stomp. Luckily, Savin wasn't so hot in other parts of his body, namely his legs and feet. My heel made touchdown through his steel-toed boots.

Savin, caught off-guard, released me with a snarl. I spun away from him, my feet slipping over the slick metal. I managed to catch myself at the very edge of the boxcar, dropping to a crouch with one hand on the roof, balancing myself.

"You idiot!" Brandt shouted from up the train, trying to catch Pietro. Her head whipped back by a lightning-fast punch, but she recovered almost instantly, her face rendered into a terrible grimace. "You have to trigger her first! Activate her sleeper state!"

Trigger me? Sleeper state? What the hell did that mean?

Savin's only response was an incoherent shout of frustration, before turning back on me. I was still crouched at the end of the boxcar. There was nowhere for me to go as Savin took one looming step closer, and opened his mouth in a snarl.

My eyes went wide in bewilderment as he started to speak.

"бунтарь —" Buntar.

Rebel.

I squinted at him, caught off guard.

"Колумбия — " Kolumbiya.

Columbia.

Wait, what…

"Стремящийся —" Stremyashchiysya.

Aspiring.

No. No, those words. I knew those words. I knew those words like I knew my name. They echoed in my head like a distant song from my childhood, resurfaced. But where —

"Amelia!" Wanda called, her voice piercing the growing buzz in my head. Her words were desperate, a plea for strength. "Don't listen! Cover your ears!"

I tried to. I really did. But it was so hard.

My arms were dead weight, like lead at my sides, and I trembled, trying to make them move. A part of me didn't want to. A part of me just wanted to slip into the calm, still nothing in the deepest, darkest, coldest part of my mind, where nothing, nothing could ever reach me again…

"Девяносто —" Devyanosto.

Ninety.

The world faded into a blur behind Savin. I could feel my focus failing, only able to hear Savin's voice. I was vaguely aware of Wanda in the distance, raising a glowing shield to protect herself from a fiery barrage, but it only lasted a few seconds before the thin, glimmering energy shattered under the force of the agents' blows.

She kept throwing desperate looks at me, knowing what was happening but being unable to reach me. I wanted to reach back. What was going on? Why was this happening to me?

"Баюкать —" Bayukat.

Cradle.

I had to help her. But I couldn't. I didn't want to…

WHAM.

A silver streak swept around me, and I caught a glimpse of Pietro in front of me, turning on a dime as he spun. His fist came up hard beneath Savin's chin before the agent could say the next word — Savin didn't stand a chance against Pietro's surprise attack, and didn't have a chance to defend himself against the follow up blow to his gut.

Savin grunted once before he was sent flying back, bouncing off the roof once before finally falling off the train.

And just like that, I was released. The invisible vice in my mind vanished, and I dropped to my hands and knees, suddenly out of breath.

"Amelia!" Pietro was at my side in an instant, picking me up. I was a little light-headed, but the world was quickly coming back into sharp focus. "Are you okay? He almost had you!"

"I'm fine, I think," I said, pressing a hand against my head, taking in a few more gulps of air. It felt like I had been suffocating only a few seconds before. Now a bright pain was shooting through my head, like waking up from a bad spell or a hangover. "Just a headache."

Then, remembering we still had a problem to deal with, I pulled away from Pietro. I pointed down the train, said, "Go protect Wanda! Her back's undefended. I'll take care of the rest!"

It was a hazy plan, but a plan nonetheless. Pietro gave me only a brief nod before taking off, reappearing the next second at Wanda's side. A male agent who'd been about to tackle her was suddenly sent flying over the side of the train. I jumped forward, going after Brandt. She had an eternal spot on my shit-list now.

She turned to face me with a sneer, as if expecting my attack. I came at her with a raised fist. Brandt dodged, brought her heel up and down towards my knee.

"You should've listened, you stupid girl!" Brandt hissed. "You think I'm not afraid to hurt you? The Crucible can rebuild whatever I destroy."

I slipped back, avoiding the blow that would've taken me down. I took another blow against my forearm, blocking a strike that would've cut across my cheek. "Hurt me all you want, I'm not going back."

"Why?" her laugh was high-pitched and mocking. "You don't even remember! It's not nearly as bad as you think."

Brandt's hand, although having touched me for only a second, still burned. I had to keep from recoiling and dropping my guard, wincing. I retaliated with a left hook, then snapping a kick to the side, taking out an oncoming agent who thought he could sideline me unawares.

"Not interested!"

"We made you stronger!" Brandt snapped, and I ducked just in time before a wave of fire could envelope my head. "We made you better! You were a part of something, Amelia. A part of something incredible. And you want to abandon it for, what, your little friends? A home you don't even have anymore? How pathetic!"

"What?" I stared at her for a second, taken aback. What did she mean, a home I didn't have anymore? "What happened to my home? What did you do?"

"Oh, I didn't do anything!" Brandt said, holding out her arms. "Blame it on the Avengers! New York was just the beginning. Thanks to them, the world has changed!"

I had no idea what she meant, but I was so angry I didn't care. With her arms open, I took the opportunity to attack, but she brushed me off easily, and I stumbled, nearly falling over the edge. I had a good look at the small crevice between the mountain wall and the rushing train, for a second convinced I would be crushed down there, before a hot grip caught my wrist at the last second.

I cried out as Brandt's grip burned my skin. I twisted around to look at her, as she held me precariously over the edge, my head mere feet from death. My feet slipped and skidded on the lip of the roof, trying to pick myself up, but I couldn't, not at this angle.

"You think this new world will accept you, what you are?" Brandt demanded over the wind, looking down on me as I hung onto her for dear life. My hair whipped by my face as I stared into hers, terrified. She crowed, "You'll only be safe inside the Crucible, under the Chairman."

I could only blink up at her, both helpless and bewildered at once. "I don't believe you!"

"I'm trying to do you a favor!" Brandt snapped, throwing her head back in frustration. The movement dropped me down several inches, and I reacted instinctively — my free hand coming up to grab her arm. I had to bite back a cry as her skin burned me. "You don't belong with them anymore! You never will!"

That's when she hauled me up by my arm, taking her other hand and grabbing me by the collar, so our faces were mere inches to each other. I couldn't look away from her glowing yellow eyes, boring into mine. There was something akin to pity in her expression as Brandt said, "Trust me, Amelia, you don't want to learn that the hard way."

I was breathing hard, panting after hanging over certain death only a few moments ago. But with Brandt holding me up higher, I finally found enough footing again. My left heel had just touched solid ground when I let out a strange half-laugh, half-cry, somewhere between utter terror and the dazed humor of someone in serious denial.

"Too bad," I could only say with a shrug, letting go of Brandt's arm and grabbing her coat. "I was never a fast learner."

And with that, I shifted my weight forward and shoved Brandt away from me.

Brandt cried out, caught by surprise. Her scorching grip ripped right through the collar of my shirt, leaving a burnt hole behind. She stumbled back, my strength greater than her weight could account for. By the time she recovered, I had spun away, taking on the nearest Komitet agent.

He was facing away from me, so had no defense when I grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him back, limbo-style. I brought his head across my knee — his head, on fire, seared my jeans, but he was unconscious before any serious damage could be done.

"Fool!" Brandt cried, snatching me back by the hair, and I retaliated with an elbow to the gut. Brandt folded inward, and I spun halfway, bringing my other fist down on her shoulder.

But Brandt was far from out. On her stomach, she swiped at my ankle, and knocked my legs out from underneath me. I landed hard on my back, head snapping back against the metal roof.

Stars filled my vision. The air was filled with the stench of smoke and burning fiber. In the distance, a faint rumble emerged. I had no idea what it was at first, I wasn't even paying attention, too busy blocking one of Brandt's fists while delivering a kick to her hip at the same time. I could feel the hairs on my arm singed off from the intense heat; I guess I was lucky it wasn't anything else.

Although I was on my back, and Brandt was trying with renewed effort to kill me, I was still alive, still kicking, if a little dazed. At least it couldn't get much worse than this.

Or so I thought.

I was in the middle of wrestling with Brandt, who managed to get on top of me. Her hands had found my throat, attempting to strangle the life out of me. My hands alternated between trying to wrench off her grip, and hitting her hard enough to let go.

It wasn't working: chest, side, stomach, Brandt only bared her teeth and absorbed my attacks.

That distant rumble got louder. A rhythm emerged.

"I should've done this first time," She rasped, fiery visage looming over me. "Fool me once, for thinking you deserved a choice. Buntar. Kolumbiya. Stremyashchiysya —"

whup-whup-whup-wHUP-WHUP-WHUP-WHUP

Recognizing the sound of downwash, my head snapped to the side. I looked over to the open side of the mountain just in time to see an attack helicopter emerging from the valley below. It rose until it was level with the train. The low hum became a roar, effectively interrupting Brandt. She, too, looked up, seeming just as surprised as I was to see the helicopter.

Right before it opened fire.

"Holy shit!" Brandt screeched, right before I kicked her off.

Immediately, I hefted myself up in a backflip I didn't know I could do. Just in time to avoid the spray of bullets. They bisected the boxcar, perforating the thin wood slats like pellets into paper, and going right through where Brandt and I had been lying earlier. Wood splinters flew everywhere, and I threw up my arms to protect my face.

Without waiting for either Brandt or the helicopter to react, I turned tail and ran for the twins.

The fight with Brandt had disoriented me, and when I looked for where the twins were last, I was surprised when they weren't there anymore. It took me a second to get my bearings again, as I jumped the next train car, bullets hot on my heel.

Wanda was ahead, battling with two agents. Hearing the gunfire, she turned her head. I waved my arms as I ran for her. My voice was a panicked cry: "Wanda! The chopper! The chopper!"

She didn't question the order, just blasted the two agents back before turning to face the helicopter, lobbing bright red blasts at it. The gunfire veered away from us as the helicopter canted up and backwards to avoid the shots.

Being that she was the only one with range between the three of us, so it was down to her to take it down. I didn't doubt Wanda's capability, but I knew it was unfair and insane to make her fight both the helicopter and the agents at the same time. I tackled one of her attackers, just as Pietro swooped in to deck the other.

I slammed my goon down, hand at the nape of his neck, knee between his shoulder blades. He struggled only for a moment before Pietro stepped in to deliver a kick to his head.

Getting to my feet, I said, "Pietro! You and me keep the others away from her!"

He offered no argument, just a quick nod before darting off again. Most of the agents were behind us, including Brandt, who was starting to catch up. Three more were ahead. Maybe I was dreaming it, but were there more here than what we started with? I couldn't remember, I'd stopped counting after Brandt strangled me.

There were six cars between us and the end of the train. The rest stretched on ahead, around the curve of the mountain. The only sign of the train itself was the thin trail of smoke above, but the sheer rock side hide the rest from us. I remembered counting them back at the train station, although now, in the heat of the moment, the number escaped me. What was it? Twenty, thirty loads? As a supply train, it must be meant to last Sokovia for long stretches of time.

Well, that wasn't really important right now. I faced forward, facing the three agents coming in. This was going to be fun.

The piece of the roof at my feet had been nearly torn free, and was now hanging by a thin shred, probably thanks to Wanda. I grabbed it, twisted it free. I raised the improvised shield just in time to deflect a fireball that had been coming right for my head.

Damn lucky.

I decided not to count on my so-called luck for too long. Using the metal sheet, I thrust the broad side against the chest of Vulkan #1, who reached me first.

Shoving him aside, I twisted around and slammed my heel into the thigh of Vulkan #2, who went down on a knee with a grunt of pain. Ducking under #1's retaliating hook, I came up and slammed the top edge of the metal into #3's chin, knocking him back.

It was the four of us, in a whirlwind of trading blows, with me at the center like the eye of the storm. I had to keep moving, keep spinning around, so I didn't leave any one of them at my back unguarded. #2 took a hit to the schnozz from my foot. #1 got his arm bent the wrong way when I caught it between my shield and twisted in just the right way. #3 got in a strike to my ribcage, nearly winding me before I swept under his follow-up and grabbed the back of his head.

With that kind of torque, I threw him forward, straight into #2, who'd been coming at me at the same time. #2 wasn't fast enough to avoid #3, and their heads smashed into each other, and they dropped in unison.

In the background, Wanda was still throwing magic bolts at the helicopter, but only managed to hit its skid rails and the open gull-wing door. Shrapnel took out the gunner, but that was more chance than skill. The helicopter was still up, and another man took dead gunner's place.

And Pietro was somewhere in the back, bouncing between seven other agents (and Brandt) like he was in a demonic pinball machine. Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! What he lacked in strength he made up for in speed, and was nigh uncatchable for the increasingly perturbed agents, who couldn't move a single step without being struck again. Then Pietro zipped away untouched with a laugh, like the evil little gremlin he was.

Back to Vulkan #1. His broken arm already straightening itself, he came at me with greater gusto. I stumbled back, ducking and dodging three consecutive swings he took at me, before my foot suddenly came down over empty air. I gasped as I fell backwards over the hold in which my impromptu shield came from.

A split-second decision. I had enough sense to think and throw my weight back hard enough, so I landed on the other side, instead of falling into the hole. My back took the brunt of the fall. I winced, rocking back, pulling my legs out of the hole, just as #1 lunged for me.

He leapt over the gap, arms outstretched to crash down on me. For a moment, he looked like a football player, about the catch the Hail Mary throw of the season, and win the Super Bowl.

In reality, he was an idiot, leaving his entire chest open for me.

I raised my legs further, planted my feet on #1's chest just as it came down to meet me. His hands were inches from my face, fingers splayed, curling, scratching at empty air — before lifting away again, as I launched him up and over my head.

The goon cried out as he flipped over me, arms and legs flailing. He landed on the car behind me, falling hard on his face.

Ha.

I picked myself up, just in time to see Wanda throw her arms out, uttering a cry of frustration. The helicopter was still flying, still shooting, now at Pietro, who darted fast to avoid the spray of bullets.

Wanda was just preparing another throw when Pietro suddenly went down with a cry. It made her turn just as she threw the bolt. "Pietro!"

He was down on one knee — his hands over his thigh, blood spilling. A bullet had caught him. Twenty feet away, I couldn't tell how bad it was, only that he was in pain, and Wanda's anger had just magnified tenfold.

She slapped her hands together with such a force I felt my ears pop — from her fists exploded a bolt so large it knocked Wanda back. The magical energy went wild, expanding the further it got — there was nowhere for the helicopter to go, and it took the blast full-on.

One of its wings burst into flames. A whine filled the air as the engines started to fail, the rotors slapping uselessly together as the helicopter was suddenly sent into a tailspin.

Wanda was already running for Pietro, not even looking as the helicopter veered overhead.

I watched, in silent horror, as it shrieked into the mountainside hundreds of feet over our heads, exploding into a massive ball of smoke, flame, and metal.

Phweeeeeewwww-BOOOM!

Wanda reached Pietro, helped him up. The agents were still recovering, a little slower. None of them seemed to notice the sheets of snow starting to slip down the mountain beneath the black plume of smoke, where the helicopter had smashed into.

I stood there, awestruck, as the snow fell thicker. It piled and piled, slipping past crevices and trees, gathering in size. Although the train was leaving it fast behind, I realized that the snow was picking up speed.

Oh no.

Wanda, helping Pietro with his arm over her shoulder, had just crossed the last car back to me when she noticed I was staring at something. She and Pietro looked over their shoulders. Something heavy fell across the atmosphere as the same dreadful thought passed through everyone's heads.

A chill silence fell over the air as we all realized the same thing. Pietro cursed loudly.

An avalanche.