Gabie
III
My eyes remain on the sky, completely oblivious to the desolation surrounding me.
My mind is blank, a blackened meant to protect me from my new reality.
"No more false faces."
Abruptly I sit straight up to find Killian stalking out of the blaze, chuckling darkly. His skin is burning and the dragon tattoos practically glowing.
"You said you wanted the Mandarin, you're looking right at him." He steps closer as he talks and it is then I realize Tony and I are too weak to fight. My blood is all over the ground and Tony has been beaten down.
There's something else, we don't want to fight.
I don't understand how I can live in a world without her.
"It was always me, Tony, right from the start. I am the Mandarin!"
He takes two menacing steps forward and I watch carelessly. His grin is triumphant and he takes pleasure in our defeat.
"Shame there won't be a Queen for me," he muses and reaches forward to grab me around the throat.
Abruptly Aldrich gets knocked aside by a metal pole and thrown into an opposite wall.
It's Allie, she's standing there breathing heavily, and holding a metal pole in hand.
She's risen from the ashes like a brilliant savior with her skin glowing red.
She's risen like a Phoenix, not a Siren, but a Phoenix.
Her eyes go to mine and in that moment the bond sparks back to life and I let out a cry of relief.
Tony and I stare in shock while she pants.
"I got nothin," Tony gasps.
At that moment one of the suits flies towards her with a repulser hand raised.
"Jarvis, subject at my twelve o'clock is not a target, disengage!" Tony yells and the suit immediately redirects.
Allie's attention shifts to Killian who is getting to his feet.
"Allie! Allie you don't have to-"
"Shut up," she snaps and stalks forward.
Aldrich is unmoved as she comes to stand before him.
III
Allie
III
"I'm relieved you're alive, but I must say you did look beautiful as you fell."
And that's when all the fear and despair turns to pure rage. A fire burns beneath my skin and in my heart.
"People are not rain, or snow, or autumn leaves; they do not look beautiful when they fall."
"Oh b-" I cut him off by sharply seizing his forearms and forcing him to meet my fiery gaze.
My blood is boiling and my skin flaring red.
"I want you to know how you made me feel, I want you to feel it," I hiss and grip tightly to his arms.
My veins run pitch black and all the pain, all the agony, pushes into him from my hands. His skin goes dark and he attempts to jerk away, but I hold fast. Digging my nails into his skin I scowl darkly at him.
Along with my physical pain I force the emotional trauma onto him.
"This is how I felt, how I will feel for the rest of my life. What you did scarred me, and not in a pretty way, in the ugliest possible manner," I growl. Killian cowers and tears well in his eyes, but I feel no sympathy. "Do you feel it Aldrich? Do you feel the shame? The helplessness? The desperation? The utter torment?"
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he sobs and collapses to the ground. I release his arms and step back cautiously.
I can still feel it all.
"I will carry all these emotions around everyday and the permanent scar on my body will show every time I get scratched, or trip, or hell even when I'm mad," I snarl.
Killian looks up at me from his knees and stares as the darkness ebbs away from his skin.
"You killed me Aldrich and I believe the punishment should fit the crime."
III
Gabie
III
In her mind I can see the plan seconds before she does it.
"Tony earplugs!" I exclaim and turn my earpieces to deaf. Tony quickly does the same just as Allie explodes.
The scream pours from her throat in sound waves so powerful they become visible.
Not long after does a column f fire erupt from her mouth combining itself with the fire of the shriek.
Her hands are clenched at her sides and her face contorted around the screech.
The Mandarin disintegrates in the wake of it, but Allie doesn't not stop.
Her screams continue to shake the building and her fire decimate it.
All at once her anger melts away and it replaced by sorrow.
The scream fades into sobs and the fire dies in her chest.
Her knees hit he ground and she cowers down. Small broken shrieks soon accompany the sobs.
My heart shatters watching her. I almost fear approaching her.
Silently I turn off the ear pieces and get up. My feet carry me to my Allie and I kneel besides her.
Tony has already scrambled to her side and attempts to wrap her in his arms. I join him and try to wrap Allie up in my arms.
She wails and struggles against our grip . Her body shakes with the force of each despairing sob.
"It's okay Allie, we're here now," Tony whispers.
"Gabie and Tony are here Allie," I add and she cries. She is utterly disconsolate.
Tony and I share a desperate look, Allie is changed. Our worst fears have been realized.
"Oh Allie Hollden I am so sorry to have led you into such peril," Tony murmurs into her hair.
Allie grabs both our hands and holds them right as she curls in on herself.
"It's over now Allie, it's over."
Fire crackles around us and the world is surely scarred from the attacks, but it is over now.
"We got you, we got you. It's okay," I ramble and hold her tightly.
It's not okay and we all know that, but right now Allie needs support.
This wasn't how this was supposed to go, being a hero shouldn't be this tragic.
Allie and I were the young ones.
There is no youth left in is after what happened.
III
"People are by rain or snow or autumn leaves; they do not look beautiful when they fall" -Naveed A Khan