Swimming in a sea of blackness, she found herself drawing closer and closer to the surface, returning from the shadowed depths… Muffled voices entered the dark chamber, echoing in the emptiness. She could hardly make out what was being said. Then a thin stream of light illuminated through the water like a scratch of sunshine. Just as she finally breached the surface…
Allie was jarred awake by the opening of car doors all around her.
"Rise and shine," Cooed Logan from up front as she wearily sat up. She wiped her eyes and looked around in a delirious manner. Hank was gone and as she veered in the other direction, she found that Peter was sitting beside her with his arms crossed. Something in the way he was complacently staring at her made the girl immediately fear the worst.
"Did I fall asleep on you?" She mumbled to him. Peter's signature 'shit-eating' grin emerged from his satisfied expression, which had her internally groaning. He nodded then, casually glancing down at a waterfall of drool oozing along the length of his jacket sleeve. Allie's cheeks were blistering with embarrassment as she hurriedly began to wipe away the wetness with her bare hands, smearing it everywhere.
"I'm so sorry," She apologized.
"No worries," He sighed, still relishing the moment.
Witnessing the useless method she was using to get rid of the drool, Peter gently shooed her hands away and began wiping his shoulder against the back of Logan's car seat.
"Glad you got your beauty rest," Logan remarked before turning to see what was pushing his seat around. He frowned at seeing what Peter was doing, sourly grumbling, "You ever hear of asking before you do something…"
Without missing a beat, Peter shamelessly said, "Uh, no."
"Anyway, we are still on the same page, yeah?" Logan continued after shaking his head in disbelief. Allie and Peter both nodded as the final remnants of the girl's nap was swiped away. Then they all groggily got out of the car, aside from Peter who sped out to the pavement and held the door for the blonde. She tossed him a grateful smile and stepped out, both of their heads craning toward the looming Pentagon right beside them.
The longer she looked, the more her heart began to sink. This was actually happening.
Peter slammed the door shut and stayed beside the girl, grinning in anticipation.
"This is the score of a lifetime." He glanced down to her, finding that Allie wasn't sharing in the giddiness.
She leaned into him and whispered, "I don't know if I can do this."
"Why?" Peter whispered back, ducking his head down to hear her. Allie grabbed his arm and pulled him back a little so that the other men couldn't hear them. Thankfully Hank and Charles were currently puzzled by some weird device that Hank had brought along and Logan was just standing by, putting on a tough guy act to keep tourists from staring at the group as they walked by.
"Do I really need to explain that to you?" She mumbled with a glare aimed at him.
"Okay but what specifically are you worried about?"
Allie frustratingly moved so that she was standing in front of him now, putting her hands up as she whisper-yelled at him.
"Everything!" Then she began to count her fingers. "We could get caught, arrested and locked away or shot and killed. I'm worried about all of that and more." She only grew more angry at seeing that his expression hadn't become any more serious. He just leaned against the car and sighed.
"I won't let that happen," Was all he responded with. Allie rolled her eyes.
"Seriously, this isn't some ego boost for you. This is crazy shit you'd see in a movie."
Then he laughed. "We are also the shit people see in movies. I think that all of us are probably capable of getting this done."
He wasn't helping. Her stomach continued to churn over a deep wave of anxiety, contemplating whether or not she should tell Logan that she was out of the mission. A hand on her shoulder pulled her away from the debate, it belonging to Peter, who finally donned a serious look and met her with a display of comfort.
"It's going to be okay," He said sincerely. Then he quickly reeled his hand back in, not wanting to go beyond their established boundaries. She didn't say anything else on the matter. So they both drifted back toward the trio in silence.
"So how specifically are we doing this?" Charles asked once everyone convened beside the rental car. "As in, who is going with who and what are we doing?"
Logan stayed quiet in thought, mindlessly turning to find Allie staring up at him expectantly with her dark brown eyes, the same ones he was so used to looking into over the years. Yet there weren't any wrinkles and deep bags around them. She was so young, so new to life and there was a vast world ahead for her to conquer.
But he thought about their future. Society would make sure she didn't have a chance to do any of those things that she wanted. The world would turn on her. Allie would lose her job, lose her friends and nearly her life many times. Those painful memories reminded him that there was more at stake than just the Pentagon mission. A timeline of doom weighing on him. He wanted to give her a promising life where she wouldn't end up getting sloppy drunk with him and confessing all the horrible things that had happened to her just for being born a certain way. The girl in front of him had no idea what she would persevere through in that life. But not again. Logan wouldn't allow it.
He confidently peered around at the team. "Hank, you just hang around the main floor and keep their security broadcast down," He strategized before turning to Allie and Charles. "You two are going to stick with me and then Peter, you can cover a lot of ground quickly. So it would be best if-"
As if they'd never been standing there at all, Peter and Allie were both gone with the telltale gust of wind being left in their place from the speedy mutant. Logan wordlessly glared daggers at the spot they'd been in not a second before. Then he slowly lifted his head, making a sinister eye contact with Charles and Hank.
"I'm going to kill that fucking kid," The man seethed. If that girl came out of the mission with even the slightest injury, Logan was going to put a violent halt to Peter's fast life.
X
It was like being sucked into a white and blinding vortex where the world no longer existed around her. There was so much pressure all over her body that she couldn't comprehend how to move, not that she could even try. Everything inside of her was jumbling around as an overwhelming force had her tossed every which way. Up and down, side to side, and every other perceivable direction. She never experienced anything at all comparable to the sensation. Allie quickly determined that whatever this was, she didn't like it one bit. The only comfort was the support that Peter offered around her and even that wasn't enough to overcome the painful velocity of his travel.
Right when it seemed like it would never end, it all came to a throttling stop. What could only have been seconds felt like decades of torture. The girl immediately retched at the way her body adjusted to normalcy, organs feeling as though they were wrestling back to their previous arrangement. Her stomach ached tremendously, cramping and contracting with queasiness.
Allie hardly noticed the way she was gently laid onto a frigid floor that had goosebumps flooding her exposed legs. Between trying to hold back gags and begging bile to stay down, she desperately grazed her hands over the cool ground before looking up with an delirious curiosity.
They were in an elevator, which was currently occupied by an official looking man dressed in a typical guard uniform. Black coat and trousers, fancy white buttons, with a patch on his shoulder that said: Federal Protective Service. Her weary eyes roamed down, spying a clear baton strapped onto his belt, along with a cartridge holder that showcased a row of white bullets, similar in material to the buttons on his coat. In his hands was a clear tray of food, which flexed and creaked beneath the pressure of his nervous grip as he was startled by their sudden appearance in the elevator with him.
Then Allie turned further, finding Peter standing casually behind the guard with crossed arms, his delinquent smile cueing whatever crime he was about to commit. Lo and behold, he brandished a roll of duct tape, menacingly tearing a long strip from it which emitted a shrill sound. The last thing she caught was his eyes wrinkling up in mischief from beneath the goggles slapped over his face. Then he was gone from the elevator wall in a flash.
What happened next was a blur of motion taking place in the corner, completely obscured through the speed of Peter's movements. Allie tore her eyes away, not bearing to watch anymore once her head began to pound from looking up. She held a fist over her mouth, genuinely feeling like she may vomit right there in the elevator.
Only a second later, a pile of silver clothes landed in her lap, which she recognized as being Peter's.
"Are you okay?" He asked as he knelt down in front of her, dropping his running goggles on top of his belongings that he'd gifted her. Allie shook her head before daring to look up again despite the headache, discovering that Peter had discarded his clothes to sport the guard's uniform.
But where was the guard now?
That was when she noticed a monstrous amount of duct tape in the corner of the elevator. Underneath it all was the pitiful sight of the guard, completely trapped in the sticky cocoon. While it was a creative form of restraint, Allie still felt terrible for the man because Peter stole his clothes, which meant he was naked beneath a dozen layers of duct tape. She could only imagine the pain of tearing each piece off of his skin.
A pang of lightheadedness had her dropping her gaze, grimly reminding Allie of her stern warning she'd given that damned mutant- one that he just completely ignored- and at the expense of Logan's orders on top of that.
"Peter..." She started angrily. "I told you-"
"I know, I know! But I knew you'd have more fun coming with me. Plus, I'll keep you safe," He said casually, like this was some sort of play date.
"I am not having fun." The way the world was swirling around her nearly had Allie in tears. She hated feeling dizzy and nauseous with a burning passion and this was the worst extent she'd ever experienced both. "I'm going to throw up, I think."
"I know," He sighed worriedly, starting to feel guilty over the state of her. "Just relax, it'll go away soon. I promise."
Then Peter felt around the uniform he'd stolen, discovering a pad of sticky notes in the breast pocket, along with a marker. He hummed in contemplation as he held the two items idly, still kneeling beside the sickly girl.
"Erik is going to be down here right?" He asked the guard, who also had tape on his mouth, so the man could only nod or shake his head. Which he did, offering Peter a stiff nod, confirming they were right on track.
"Hmmm," Peter pondered. "What's he kept in? Like a... concrete box?" The boy recalled what Logan had said earlier about Erik being a mutant who could control metal. Based on the fact that absolutely nothing was made of metal around them, even the gun at his side (Which he was scheming on stealing because what the hell, why not?), Peter figured that it meant Erik would have an unorthodox cell.
The guard shrugged, unknowing of how to convey a specific answer.
"Does it at least have windows? Like any sort of glass anywhere?" That elicited a certain nod from the duct taped man. Peter smiled as he wrote something down on the top sticky note before tearing it off the pad and slipping it into the tray of food. He had an idea.
"Y'know, you're pretty nice for a guy that just got duct taped to a wall."
"He's just really scared right now," Allie said from the floor, having been dealing with not only the motion sickness but also the strong waves of fear coming from the restrained man in the corner. Peter looked at her then back to the guy.
"Sorry, man," He apologized sincerely. The guard nodded in a sad way. Then Peter was back to checking on Allie. "Feeling any better?"
She was still struggling with the nausea but it appeared to finally be ebbing away. "I'm fine. We've gotta soon be at the bottom…"
"Get some rest. I'll get Erik."
"No," Allie objected angrily, "I was brought with to help. I'm going to do something to make sure we get this done."
"Well I don't know what to expect here," Peter told her with a bit of an attitude, surprising her, though a quick connection to his thoughts told her it was only because he didn't want to get her into trouble. Allie could sense the way his anxiety spiked at the thought of her demise, leaving her with a sweet tinge of flattery. "I don't think that a bunch of government agents with guns are going to take too kindly to your..." He gestured to her outfit, "…Your fan girl getup."
He wasn't wrong but that didn't mean she had to be useless. "I can at least cause a distraction for you." She compromised.
Peter groaned at her persistence. "Just stay in the elevator. Do you think that you can use your power from in here?"
Allie shrugged. "Yeah."
"If it looks like I'm in trouble, then cause a distraction," He advised, "But if not, just hang out with buddy ol' pal." They both looked at the guard, who just flicked his brows at them.
Peter's brazen demeanor was a stark contrast to her own, which was rooted in simmering irritableness. She still couldn't get over the fact that Peter had seriously disregarded the plan that Logan was literally in the middle of explaining. How much of a rebel did someone have to be in order to directly defy the planning of something as insane as breaking into the Pentagon? Clearly Peter either had balls of steel or he was simply idiotic. Possibly both, now that the matter of debate crossed her mind. Nevertheless she was pissed off at him for deciding to utilize either at the expense of their team.
"Peter, I can't believe you ignored Logan-"
The elevator jutted to a halt. Peter sped a finger to her mouth, giving her a stern look that tried to cement their plan together. If he got in trouble, then she'd distract the danger. Otherwise she just needed to stay put. It wasn't a plan she was eager to agree with but seeing as they no longer had time to come up with another, it would have to do.
As the doors began to slide open, Peter sped to the center of the elevator and donned a blank expression before smoothly exiting like an actor sauntering onto a stage.
Allie took in a shaky breath. The nerves were starting to hit her. This was real, she was watching it happen right in front of her eyes. She was in the thick of it. This wasn't some fantastical James Bond adventure full of incompetent henchmen, half nude women and a plot based around the forever charming Sean Connery. Instead she was faced with stone cold reality: the Pentagon's most lethal guards and, what some would consider reality defying, a gray-haired kleptomaniac mutant that kept trying to hit on her. She worried that their wacky plot would end in serious disaster.
With a wavering courage, Allie pushed her worrisome thoughts aside and crept out, barely peering past the elevator's edge and into the hallway beyond it. It was a plain corridor that was lined with guards that stood at attention, each wearing bored expressions since they'd been handed a rather uninspiring duty. There had to be at least twenty of them, if not more. Each one had a gun holstered at the hip, looking to be non-metal, much like the baton that was now around Peter's hip.
They were well aware of Erik's mutation. Not a speck of metal in sight, not even a miniscule lapel pin. This meant that the government knew of their kind, then? How long had they been keeping it a secret? Did they somehow know who was a mutant and who wasn't? Did they know she was one?
Allie didn't want to overwhelm herself in such a sensitive time with all the burning questions she had, so she slipped back into cover silently with her head only focused on the only task assigned to her. Given that the men weren't startled, Allie figured Peter had gotten through without any problems.
Any sort of relief was cut short by the deafening ringing of an alarm. The shrillness had Allie cupping her hands around her ears as she panicked, frantically standing so that she could be prepared for the worst.
She shot the duct taped guard a distressed look, whisper-yelling at him from the other side of the elevator. "What is that alarm for?!"
He didn't know how to convey the correct answer, just darting his eyes around as if that would somehow tell her anything. Allie's breath picked up and she peered out into the hall again, seeing that the guards were now running toward where she could only assume was Peter's location. The group of men then disappeared around the corner, twenty or so guns headed the mutant's way.
"Fuck, fuck!" The girl cried, realizing that this was her time to cause a distraction because she wasn't sure if Peter would be able to manage against the armed men racing his way.
Without really thinking about it, Allie's trembling fingers went straight for the necklace dangling innocently above her pounding heart. Peter couldn't die. She didn't want to look at the ruby years from now and think about how it was gifted to her by the erratic boy that had been her partner in crime at the Pentagon, only to then have his blood on her hands because she stayed in the elevator while he did all the dirty work. No- Allie wouldn't let that happen. He was going to make it out of there. There would be absolutely no alternative course where Peter Maximoff was dying.
Her violent intent was in full throttle as she reached into the void of the telepathic plane and was quickly met with the overwhelming amount of fear latching onto the guards. They were terrified of Erik. Most of them hadn't even seen him before yet they were cowering at having to face the mutant, each having warped and distorted versions of his powers being used on them despite never witnessing what he could actually do. They knew what potential he had to deal out a swift death and all were met with a desperate desire to run with their tails between their legs. It would be an interesting horror to orchestrate.
But Allie took the cheap route by harnessing their surface level phobias. One by one, she began to introduce each of the men to a hellish nightmare crafted specifically for them.
Botched dentistry, the pitch black darkness, monsters from under the bed, needles puncturing soft flesh, creepy apparitions haunting a helpless victim, drowning in the endless ocean… the list went on and on. Their screeches of utter terror were echoing down the hallway as Allie concentrated, sinking her telepathic teeth into each and every man that she could. The emotions swelled and only fueled her further. She reveled in the ways that they cried and begged for help, a sick satisfaction she received as if she was a parasite draining its host of all they had.
There was a certain darkness that came with inducing such a potent dread into her unwilling victims, something that Allie often struggled with outside of using her powers. But when she was in the heat of the moment, there was nothing more intoxicating to her than instilling that primal fear into whoever the unfortunate soul might be.
They continued to struggle against her. She could feel them thrashing at their own bodies, dropping their handguns and fighting for their lives against nothing at all. They grappled with pythons, home intruders, swarms of wasps and walls so tight it could make any claustrophobic person go berserk. Every and any fear that these men had were brought to life in a horrifying way, effectively keeping them from reprimanding Peter.
Her eyes were clenched tightly with the commitment to unleash as much of her power as she could to continue the much needed distraction. But her connection to them was interrupted suddenly. She could feel the hallucinations shred and rupture apart, releasing the men of her grasps as they were physically torn away.
Allie didn't have even the slightest moment to discover why this had happened as she was violently thrust backward by an unknown force. Right as she was about to rebound into the wall of the elevator, Peter was an obvious step ahead. One hand was tangled in the blonde tresses at the back of her head and the other was firmly spread in the middle of her back, successfully halting her course bound for the wall behind her.
The physical contact between them formed a deafening bridge between her and him, flooding Allie with his fearful thoughts. They were so fast and loud she felt like a migraine tsunami had just barreled across her brain.
The only thing she could do was wince and turn her head to the side, trying to move away but the wall was right behind her, forcing their close proximity. It was difficult to understand the mental dialogue that he was thinking, the words blurring together into a maddening cacophony. But the more Allie concentrated the more she could dissect.
Is she okay? Is she okay? I hope I didn't hurt her. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Shit, shit, SHIT!
She released a surprised exhale at finally discerning his fearfulness, then flicked her eyes up to meet his. They were shadowed beneath the brim of the guard's hat, as well as the fact that he was being backlit by the sickly bright fluorescent lights above. Yet she could see clear as day how they widened once he noticed how close they were, all but nose to nose if not for the height difference between them.
Another shot of anxiety branched through him and, thus, into her, letting Allie know that he was fearing that he might've accidentally overstepped the line with how he was holding her, but he only had the good intentions of helping.
"It's okay Peter," She whispered with a slight wince. Her hands went to the crook of his elbows, weakly pushing him back. His thoughts were so loud and disruptive that it was driving her nuts, all but incapacitating the girl. He needed to calm down or step away, something to break the connection.
"Did I hurt you?" More rounds of his Mach 10 fear thoughts shredded through Allie's head. The girl took in a deep breath and finally got a grip on herself, forcing some mental walls up which were successful in quieting his thoughts until eventually cutting them off entirely.
"No, I'm alright. Everything's okay," Allie reassured him, sounding relieved at only having her own thoughts to contend with. She felt his hands fall away as he took a step back. The boy then sped to the corner, changing back into his clothes in a blurred tornado that humorously reminded her of Taz from Looney Tunes. Any fun was suddenly sucked out of her when she realized there was another person occupying the elevator with them.
It must've been the man they had been after… Erik Lehnsherr.
She looked him up and down quickly, taking in all that she could of their mysterious prisoner. He was older, probably in his late thirties or early forties based on the tired wrinkles scattered around his features. His hair was a medium toned brown that was trimmed short. She wondered if he wasn't in there very long since it wasn't outgrown, or perhaps the Pentagon personnel were ballsy enough to give him haircuts. Whoever that barber was must've received a pretty penny.
Then she assessed his bleak prisoner uniform, seeing that the white badge on his chest read: 0001. He must've done something pretty heinous to end up being the very first inmate the Pentagon had ever housed.
Having done enough observing, the blonde lazily fell back and rested against the wall, the rumbling of the elevator moving back up seeming to instill some form of comfort in her. Opposite to her was Peter, who zipped his clothing back on in the blink of an eye, earning him a perplexed look from Erik.
Peter looked at his watch and huffed nonchalantly, acting as if he hadn't just effortlessly broke Erik out of his cell and escaped nearly two dozen armed guards, albeit they were a bit preoccupied with Allie's nightmares.
Peter caught sight of the way Erik was hunched over and actively willing the bile down, mirroring the same ailments Allie had earlier.
"You're good. It'll pass," He assured him, glancing at Allie who he gave a sympathetic nod to. "It happens with everyone." Erik remained leaning against the wall, taking in even breaths to try to quell the sickness. Then, like he normally did, Peter began to go off on a tangent.
"You must have done something pretty serious," He began with a curious look. "What'd you do man? What'd you do? What'd you do? Why'd they have you in there?"
The boy's impatient babbling had Allie rolling her eyes. She wasn't sure what Erik was capable of, nor what his level of sanity was in that moment. If Peter got them killed by this man simply by talking his ear off, she'd have a bone to pick with him in the afterlife.
"For killing the President," Erik answered him at last. The playful expression left Peter's face as he whispered to both Allie and the duct taped guard.
"Ah, wow. Shit." Peter looked around at them, the guard seeming unsurprised while Allie was left completely petrified.
This was the guy who shot and killed John F. Kennedy? He was actually the piece of shit responsible for assassinating the 35th President of the United States? While he paraded through Dallas with his wife by his side, all smiles and waves for the joyous crowd around him? No wonder the Pentagon had him locked a mile beneath the surface. This man was a vicious murderer.
"I really liked Kennedy…" She rhetorically commented with an edge of anguish over what Erik had done. The prisoner spared her an unbothered glance before returning to favor his stomach against the wall.
Then Erik took in a breath and leaned back to address Peter. "The only thing I'm guilty of is fighting for people like us."
While the man was trying to open up a sincere conversation about mutants and his moral standings, Peter had other burning questions to throw Erik's way.
"You take karate? You know karate man?" He interrogated him like it was a pressing matter, like Peter really just had to know if Erik knew martial arts. Allie wanted to laugh at how insane the boy was if not for fearing the other man, still mulling over the fact that he had ruthlessly taken out Kennedy. It wasn't every day that you were in the same elevator as someone who'd done such a profoundly bad thing. It was one of those crimes that made you an unspeakable person and she couldn't comprehend how Peter was so relaxed when it came to that fact. It was like having a casual conversation with John Wilkes Booth- Who'd want to do that?
"No I don't know karate, but I do know crazy," Erik commented. It had Peter cracking up.
"This guy's great," The boy told her, pointing at Erik's back. Allie tried to smile but she knew only an uncomfortable grimace emerged. Peter cocked his head, not understanding what her fuss was about before his focus shifted back to Erik yet again.
"They told me you can control metal."
"They?" Erik asked. It was as if Peter didn't have time to dwell on a subject for too long for he was already disregarding the answer he'd received.
"You know, my mom used to know a guy who could do that," The boy innocently mentioned. Erik's brows furrowed as he thought about it, although the entire exchange was cut off as the elevator made it back to the top, a small chime welcoming them to the ground floor.
Erik pushed away from the door, the elevator being enveloped in a tense silence as they awaited its opening. When the doors slid apart, it revealed a kitchen outside that was empty and left in disarray. Everything was soggy and wet from the sprinkler system being active, making Allie wonder what the hell had happened.
Waiting right outside the door was a sodden and disheveled Charles, who was looking behind him at Logan without realizing the elevator was open. As he unknowingly turned around, Allie caught sight of the way his face dropped at seeing Erik standing right in front of him.
"Charles?" Erik said in surprise. No one was expecting Charles to punch Erik straight in the jaw without a moment of hesitation.
Allie leapt backward to evade both the men as Charles flew into the wall from the force of his own punch, while Erik went tumbling to the floor in shock. The telepath circled around the cramped elevator with his wet hair sticking to his face in dark strings, grunting at the pain in his fist from delivering such an unexpected blow.
"Good to see you too, old friend." Pushing himself to a seated position, Erik cradled his jaw while shooting a glare at Charles. Then he gestured at the way the man was up and moving, not being immobilized and bound to the wheelchair. "And walking."
Charles' sneer was a blatant one. "No thanks to you."
There was a beat of silence as Erik carefully rose to his feet, giving Allie just enough time to actually comprehend what she'd just witnessed. Clearly there was some bad blood between Charles and Erik, something that she was entirely unaware of.
"You're the last person in the world I expected to see today," Erik mused. His eyes seemed to further observe Charles as they continued to heatedly occupy the elevator, their energies partaking in a silent battle that everyone around them could most definitely feel.
"Believe me," The Professor said, shaking his head, "I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to."
Then the man took a step forward. "If we get you out of here, we do it my way. No killing."
Allie shuddered. She thought that was already the plan, to not kill anyone? But since Charles had to specify that to Erik… that meant their prisoner was adept in inciting violence. Maybe he just was referring to the President's assassination, but some nagging feeling had Allie telling her that it wasn't the whole story. Erik just seemed off. There was a lot of emotion within him yet all of it seemed to be washed with darkness, which was something Allie could feel just based off of her instincts. She wasn't daring to test the waters with her powers, somewhat being scared of what she might find within those shadowy confines of his mind.
"No helmet," The other man said as he waved his hands toward his head. He wore a taunting smirk. "I couldn't disobey you even if I wanted."
Charles took another step, coming close to Erik with a near growl bubbling from deep within his chest. "I'm never getting inside that head again."
As the blonde followed the conversation, she looked from between the two men to Peter, who was standing at the opposite side of the elevator. For once he seemed serious, really taking in the words that Erik and Charles were exchanging.
"I need your word, Erik," Charles softly pleaded. Erik nodded. No killing. The climatic exchange was rudely interrupted by the commotion of a door being kicked open, followed by a shout.
"Nobody move!" A guard yelled, wielding one of those clear handguns she'd seen downstairs. Allie watched as one shuffled in, then another and another until the room was full of guns pointed toward them with terrified men twitching their fingers over the triggers. They weren't taking any chances.
"Hold it right there!" Another one commanded while coming toward them.
The mutants exited the elevator, standing in a line right outside the entrance. There was a bullet ready for each of their heads. It had her knees shaking. There was so much fear brimming in the room, both from the mutants at Allie's sides and the guards scattering around her.
She looked to her left. Charles was standing there, gasping at the men pouring in. Then she looked the other way, seeing Peter beside her. She reached out mentally, trying to see what he was feeling when Allie realized he wasn't as scared as what one should be when half a dozen guys had their guns honed in on each of their heads. He actually seemed deep in thought, like he was scheming.
"Charles," Erik said in an unbothered way. But he didn't realize how much the Professor was panicking beside him.
Another command was barked from one of the guards. "Don't move!"
"Hands up or we will shoot!" One of the men in a white uniform urged, his clear handgun steady on them from the front of his pack of Pentagon personnel.
"Freeze them, Charles," Erik demanded, now sounding worried that nothing was happening.
Charles wished that Erik knew what he'd given up to walk again. No more telepathy, no more control. He regretted taking Hank's serum with his entire soul in that desperate moment.
"I can't," the Professor told him in quivering regret. Being able to physically run away was in fact not good enough. He needed his powers and they were nowhere in sight, possibly dooming those around him.
"Hands up!" The guard ordered for what would most likely be the last time before he would have his squad open fire on them.
This was it. Allie was too caught up in her own fear and anxiety to realize that now would be the time for her to use her power in a last chance at surviving this ordeal. They were livestock waiting for slaughter at this point. She was staring into the dark barrels of so many guns, all aimed directly for them, that Allie started to feel her heart accept that this very well could be the end to her short life. Dying like this really wasn't how she planned to spend her Saturday afternoon.
She didn't know what to do with such despairing thoughts, so she peered up at Peter in the hopes that his calm aura meant he had yet another plan. Noticing that she was staring at him, the boy glanced over and gave her a look that instantly smoothed over her fears because it confirmed he had a trick up his sleeve. Then he winked, because why wouldn't he? It was Peter Maximoff after all. There was no removing his wild personality even when faced with death.
Allie didn't have it in her to smile, though she really wanted to.
Seeing as they were either going to be executed or all taken prisoner, Erik and Logan began to unleash their powers. The tables in the kitchen started wobbling, the clanking of sharp knives and forks, pots and pans all creating an unsettling song that signaled imminent demise for the guards. There was no more stalling, the mutants needed to do something.
With Erik preparing his onslaught, Allie quickly latched onto the guards so that she could incapacitate them with her nightmares.
"No!" Charles screamed, shoving his arms into Erik's chest in fear of what the man was planning on doing to the guards. But it was too late. They all were startled by Erik and in knowing what he was capable of, they all fired their weapons.
The mutants would have been doomed. The bullets were flying a perfect path for each of their heads. However there was a certain someone in the room who was not about to let them hit their targets.
Everything slowed.
The water droplets from the sprinklers sparkled mid air, the blades of knives glinted in the fluorescents and the flames from the gun barrels stayed in round bubbles just outside the weapons. It almost seemed as if the entire scene was frozen, which gave Peter optimal time to let out a sigh before he smacked his Stereobelt on and snapped a pair of headphones over his ears.
Time in a Bottle was a welcomed song as Peter then put his goggles on, readying himself for a joyride. And then he was off. Peter ran to his right, zipping past the mutants that were in a line, each wearing expressions of horror as the bullets were oozing through the air toward them. He'd deal with that later.
He jumped up onto the slick, tiled walls where he took some time to scan the room when he saw the floating blobs of spilled soup hanging in the air. He had time to kill. So Peter stuck out a finger and slipped it through the yellowish soup, bringing the sodden finger to his mouth.
Could use some salt, he thought with a nose scrunch.
The mutant continued along the wall which curved around the room, thus arriving him above a guard who was stuck in his defensive stance. Peter reached out and tipped the man's hat off just for fun. Then there was another guy standing a few feet ahead. He playfully tapped him on the cheek, watching as the skin rippled out like water in a pond given you'd drop a rock in it.
Having gotten his fix of the wall running, Peter then jumped down and figured now would be the best time to actually set all these men up for failure. Two more guys were behind him now, each untouched. So he snatched a plate from the air and tossed it backward, watching as it was heading right for the guard's face. And so he worked his way through the entire room, messing with each of their perpetrators one by one in a similar way.
Once he dealt with everyone in the room, Peter stole one of the hats from the two guys standing in front of him and put it on, at which point the boy remembered that he had to actually save his friends. So he sped over to them, carefully moving the bullets that were edging on being dangerously close to them. One at a time, he nudged the bullets so that they were beelining for the wall. He cleared Logan, Erik and Charles before finally coming over to Allie.
Peter paused in front of her, really taking a chance to observe her without her glaring at him. At that moment, she was visibly terrified. The water from the sprinklers above had her mascara smudging along her lashes and her cheeks were pale from the fear of dying. Then he peered down at the glittering necklace dangling perfectly in the center of the v-neck cut of her shirt. He wanted to admire the pendant for a second but something else caught his eye just below it. Her beloved Beach Boys tee was also wet from the sprinklers, subsequently allowing her vibrantly colored bra to peek through the drenched white fabric.
That was no good. So in yet another chivalrous act to redeem himself from the thrift shop ordeal, Peter took off his silver jacket and, with extreme care, placed it around Allie's shoulders so that she was covered up. Then Peter looked around for any bullets racing toward her, discovering that there was one heading for the girl's arm.
Once Peter deemed everything to be secure, he took his place up near the entrance of the kitchen and allowed everything to go back into full swing.
Allie flinched as the bullets embedded themselves in the wall behind them, sending broken shards of tile raining down onto the mutants. The pieces of kitchenware that Erik had levitated into the air clattered and smashed into the floor. Then all the guards around them randomly fell to the ground, surprised grunts and thuds sounding throughout the whole room. Some flipped backwards, some flew as if an invisible force had thrown them and others hit each other or themselves which had them swiftly tumbling to the hard ground below.
The girl went to move around when she felt a weight over her. She looked down, discovering that Peter's jacket was draped along her shoulders. Still recovering from the shock, Allie didn't care to take it off, choosing to cautiously survey the room full of knocked out guards and shattered dishes.
What the fuck just happened?
In her incredulous scanning of the room, she noticed Peter standing across the kitchen. The smirk plastered on his face said it all.
Charles was first to walk to the exit, probably eager to get away from Erik who followed after him. Logan went too, leaving Allie to come up in the rear.
"Thanks, kid," Logan said to Peter, grasping his shoulder for a moment in a gesture of appreciation before leaving the kitchen and heading up the stairs. He seemed a bit mentally preoccupied as he trudged by. The young mutant nodded and waited for Allie to finally reach his spot near the exit. She took her time as she evaded all the glass and knives laying around, eventually reaching the boy.
"You can have this back." Her hands went for the jacket around her, moving to take it off and return it to Peter when he quickly reached out. He grasped either side of the front, holding it firmly together.
He shook his head. "Nope."
Allie was confused. "Why?"
"Because white t-shirt plus water equals everyone can see that your bra has little blue lacy flowers all over it," He explained, trying to be funny so that she didn't feel as embarrassed about it. But it didn't really help. The girl recoiled and stepped backward, making him remove his hands from the material.
"You were staring at me, weren't you?" She said completely mortified, taking yet another step away from the boy she deemed to be a total predator. There was no way he thought he could just buy her a necklace as a way of apologizing for being a creep, only to then continue to do so. That wasn't how things worked.
Peter shook his head vigorously. "Nooo- I just innocently noticed and gave you my jacket. That's all. I promise you."
The girl pursed her lips, peering into Peter's fearful thoughts. He seemed genuinely worried and was scared of being wrongly accused of being something he wasn't, leading Allie to loosen up and give him a chance. Maybe he was actually just trying to do something kind after all.
She sighed, expelling the tense nerves. "Okay. Thank you…" Then there was a pause, Peter and Allie both just looking at each other without knowing what to do next. Guess all that they could do was go back upstairs, so the girl went for the exit.
"Wait," Peter said. Allie peered back at him from the doorway. "I can get us out of here. With your permission… of course."
He was met with a skeptical gaze. "I really don't want to feel sick again."
"I'll make it quick."
"I know," She chuckled. "That's the problem."
Peter playfully rolled his eyes. "I'm saying I know the fastest way to get out so we won't have to run for so long. I did a lap around the entire building with you before which is why you got so sick."
Allie was stuck on the fact that he literally carried her for an entire trip around the Pentagon, something that probably took five or so seconds for him to do. She couldn't even wrap her head around how fast that was, which was why Allie wanted to say no. But then she decided to agree. It was sort of convenient being able to just zip around everywhere, plus there could've been more guards waiting for them somewhere up top. So going with Peter would help avoid any further confrontation.
"Oka-" He didn't give her any time to finish her answer. Hardly two seconds passed by when Allie was met with the warmth of the outside sun. They were standing in front of the rental car, which Peter sat on the hood of, entirely uncaring if he'd mess up the paint or make a dent.
The motion sickness that time was nowhere near as bad as before, thankfully fading away almost as soon as Allie took a seat beside the boy. She wondered how long it would take Logan and the others to make it back to the car. In the meantime, maybe she could try once more to have a civilized conversation with Peter.
"Before you ask me a bunch of questions, can I ask some?" The blonde said as she wrung out her wet hair, no thanks to the sprinklers of the kitchen.
He leaned back on his elbows. "Shoot."
"How old are you?" She figured that was a good way to start.
"Seventeen. You?"
"I just turned seventeen last month." Then Allie laid on her back, squinting up at the bright sky beside him. "Do you dye your hair gray?"
Peter laughed. "Everyone asks me that. And the answer is no. Of all the colors I could choose from, why would I want to look like Albert Einstein?"
"Hah, I don't know. I don't think gray is bad," She said with a shrug, trying to make him feel better about it. He raised his brows.
"Right, I would think so since you like older guys." He referenced the Mick Jagger fan girling from earlier, making Allie giggle.
"Mick isn't going gray yet, he's only thirty."
"Only!" The boy's head whipped around to face her. "You're nearly half his age."
"Seriously Peter? You can't tell me you've never crushed on an older celebrity before." Her words had him shying away suddenly, turning his head so that he was also looking at the sky.
"I mean…" He mumbled, dimples becoming really pronounced as he smirked. "That one Nancy Sinatra album cover kick started my hormonal awakening."
Allie suddenly sat up with her mouth wide open. "You mean Sugar, don't you?"
His guilty silence had her giggling instantly.
"You actually are such a creep!" She whined while laughing at the way he threw his hands up, like he couldn't catch a break.
"What's the difference between you and me?!" He cried loudly.
"Hey!" Logan shouted from behind the teenagers. "Get your fat ass off the car Maximoff."
Allie and Peter slid off the hood of the rental, watching as the rest of the gang approached them.
"What about her?" Peter joked, gesturing to the girl beside him.
Logan waltzed up to the driver side door. "I like her better than you."
"What the hell," The boy said, "I just saved all of you."
"Yeah, that's why I'm not shoving my claws up your ass for disobeying me and kidnapping her without knowing what the fuck you're doing."
"He seemed to know better than the rest of you," Erik intervened. Then he looked over at Allie, giving her a onceover and noted Peter's jacket around her. "She looks well taken care of to me."
"The respect is appreciated, even if you don't know karate," Peter stated, giving Erik a salute as he tugged on Allie's sleeve so that they could climb into the back of the car. Meanwhile, Logan shot daggers at Erik for even daring to insert himself into the argument.
Charles grumbled while plodding up to the passenger side. "I'd give up my legs just to make you all shut the fuck up."