Chapter Seven:

Elena's POV

Day Twenty-Eight:

I'm staring at the door. I try not to think of anything, not of the pain coursing through my body, not of my fuzzy mind, both of which are trying so hard to heal despite having no energy left.

I've been staring for maybe hours since the guard brought my daily oatmeal. No one else has come in yet.

The days have been random. I never know what to expect and I don't know how long I've been here. It's hard to care at this point.

More time passes until the door slams open. I don't even have the energy to jump at its sudden movement.

Nikolai storms in. "Get up." He commands.

I obey, dragging myself to my feet, using the wall for support.

He opens the cell and grabs my arm. He pulls me towards the exit. His newfound strength still surprises me, as I try hard to keep up so that he doesn't pull my arm out of my socket.

He doesn't say anything else, and I know better than to ask, but this is a strange occurrence. All the other times I've been taken from my cell, I have been dragged away by lower-level Hydra agents.

We walk further through the building than I ever had before until we reach a door.

He opens it and I'm shocked to see what looks like sunshine flood into the building. He pulls me through the door, and I feel his grip tighten as soon as we are officially outside.

My eyes take a moment to adjust to the light. We are in a forested area, and it looks like it is morning from what I can tell. It's cold.

He leads me to a nearby truck, opening the door and pushing me inside. He gets in and starts the vehicle. Still, he says nothing.

He doesn't start driving immediately. Instead, he takes a deep breath and looks at me. He looks frustrated. Finally, he starts speaking. "They want me to terminate you."

A flood of relief washes through me, but it only lasts a second as he continues.

"I won't let that happen." He says, although it seems to be more to himself than to me. "The higher-ups have left. It'll be easy to get you out of here. I was never that attached to Hydra anyways. It was my father's work."

He reaches over and caresses my cheek. His hand trails down my arm and lingers under the scars that have built up since my powers were at half capacity. The pain and anger from his touch causes me to bite the inside of my cheek.

He switches gears to move, when suddenly there is an explosion to our right.

We both look in that direction. We see agents start to get in defensive modes and start shouting orders. The agents are pointing up in the sky.

I bend lower to see up, is that… Iron Man?

"You got to be fuckin shitting me." Nikolai says as he starts driving away.

Suddenly, a spark reignites within me.

That innate fight or flight response kicks in and, with a surge of new hope, I know I have got to do something.

As he makes it towards the trees, I jump to action with the strength I have left and grab the steering wheel with both hands and yank it to the right.

We head straight for some trees, and I try to brace myself the best I can. The car stopped, the front completely smashed in. I don't bother to look at Nikolai, instead using my body weight to push my door open and get out.

I hear Nikolai behind me shout. Adrenaline flows through me as I start half running, half limping towards the explosion from before.

I see some agents that were caught in the blast lying on the ground. I head towards them. I know from past experience that the larger, main guns were fingerprint activated, but I pray that one of them had a little pistol on them.

I'm extremely glad and lucky when the first body I approach had a pistol hiding right where I thought he would, in his boot.

I look back and I see Nikolai stalking towards me. His forehead is bleeding, and he seems a little disoriented.

I point the gun at him, but he doesn't stop until he is about 3 yards away from me. He mockingly puts his hands up, daring me to shoot him. "Do you have what it takes?" He taunts with a smirk. He sneers, "Are you a killer or a hero?"

Psychotic to the very end.

The thoughts of everything he has put me through rushes to my mind.

I can't handle it anymore. The pain, the torture. I can't handle it and I can't handle him being alive.

I pulled the trigger, and the bullet went through his head.

The blood splattered on me, marking me for what I've done. We don't kill people. Steve's words play on repeat in my head. We don't kill people.

I can't do this. I look at the blood on my hands.

More blood, too much blood.

I feel sick.

I close my eyes and I point the gun at my head.

Please let this be the end. Please don't let me heal from this.

I pull the trigger.

I hear the gunshot, but I don't feel anything beyond my own guilt, pain, and anguish. I open my eyes. I see blue. I see Pietro.

He's in front of me. I realize he's holding my hand with the gun in it. He moved it above my head in an instant, so that it harmlessly shot into the sky.

I kind of hate him for it, but I hate myself more. I'm sure he hates me now, so I'm unsure why he would do this. It would have been easier for all of them.

I think I could cry right now. I think this would be a good time to cry and to scream, but I don't. I just stare at the blue.

I think he's looking at me, but I can't meet his gaze.

I think the lack of sleep is getting to me. The adrenaline is leaving my system.

I think the world has started to spin. Was it always spinning?

I think I'm going to fall.

My legs are no longer supporting me. I don't hit the floor though. Instead, I feel Pietro. His arms around me and my head lands on his chest.

I think he's saying something to me or to someone.

I close my eyes.