Chapter 21

January 11, 2014 – 12 p.m.

For a moment, Stevie believed she actually had been hit by a car, but then she realized she wasn't flying through the air – she was being carried at what must be incredible speed. The road smeared into a blur around her and she felt like she was being buffeted by incredible winds. She couldn't breathe. And then, everything stopped with a jolt that made it feel like she'd left her bones behind. Whoever was carrying her set her on her feet and her knees almost gave out under her.

"You're heavy, Captain!"

The voice had an accent Stevie couldn't place. The speaker was a young man, as tall as she was but lightly built. Despite his age, his swept-back hair was silver.

"Come on, Pietro! I can't hold them forever!"

A girl shouted from the passenger seat of a red sedan parked by the side of the road. They were back on the overpass. The van she had been driving was still there, hood crumpled, with a hole in the windshield. Black-clad bodies lay on the ground around the car.

"Keep your hair on!" The young man called back. He gestured toward the car. "After you."

Stevie had to step over one of the bodies to reach the back door. He was a STRIKE agent, clearly one of the support team for...Bucky...Stevie shoved the thought aside. He stared up, unblinking, but his body was unmarked. He was breathing. Stevie felt her skin crawl.

Natasha and Maggie were already in the backseat, and Stevie leaned across to take her daughter in her arms. The girl burst into tears again, clinging to her neck. Stevie checked the girl for blood, for bruises. Nothing. Nothing. She almost cried with relief, kissing her hair, her cheeks, as the young man, Pietro, pulled the car out into traffic. Natasha leaned back, face white, clutching her left arm.

"Are you alright?" Stevie asked.

"Nothing I haven't dealt with before," Natasha said, voice tight.

In the front seat, Pietro was tapping his fingers on the steering wheel restlessly.

"Our exit," the girl said, and he jerked the car across three lanes, so sharply that Natasha hissed in pain.

In the rearview mirror, Stevie could see the girl's eyes glowing red. There was something uncannily familiar about her face.

"Who are you?" Stevie asked.

"My name is Pietro Maximoff, and this charming lady is my sister Wanda." The young man turned to the back to give them a charming smile. "We're here to rescue you!"

"Watch where you're going!" The girl -Wanda – snapped. "We need to get off the road."

"Ok, mom," Pietro said sarcastically. But he did as she asked.

They were driving through a complex of apartment buildings, squat, blocky and identical except for the color of the bricks. Pietro turned and the street dead-ended in front of them, concrete barricades making the end of the development and the beginning of an overgrown park thick with bracken. Pietro blurred for a second, then he was opening Stevie's door for her.

"Where are we?" Stevie asked.

The girl answered as she got out of the car.

"We need a place to lie low."

Her voice was lower than Stevie had thought it would be, throaty. She tucked her long, black hair behind one ear and Stevie saw that her eyes weren't glowing anymore. They were a rather normal brown. Her face tickled something in Stevie's memory – but she felt a sudden stab in her temple.

"There are no cameras in there," the girl continued, gesturing toward the trees with her chin. "Harder to follow us."

"Who's first?" Pietro asked.

"No one," Wanda responded. "We have an injured woman and a baby, you idiot. We don't know what you moving them around would do to them."

"We're walking?" He asked incredulously. "You're killing me!"

Stevie glanced at Natasha. The other woman shrugged with her good shoulder. Stevie understood. They were alone, friendless and injured. What choice did they have but to trust these strangers? She boosted Maggie onto her hip, snuggled her close. Together they walked off the end of the street, into the trees.

A short chapter today, folks. As some of you guessed, Stevie and Co. were rescued by the twins. Hope you enjoy - and I'll post the next one soon, I promise.