☑ THE SHADOW | Peter Maximoff

f o r t y - t w o

~ 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚 ~

Her head whipped around and her eyes grazed the entire room. A small sense of fear sat deep within Amara's bones as Kiselyov's chuckling echoed off the walls, her anxiety rising the longer she couldn't find the source of the deep, wicked laughter. Desperately, she used that fear to make her angrier. She couldn't afford to let her guard down, now. Amara needed every ounce of energy she had left.

With her arms reaching out, Amara slowly backed up. Her insides settled slightly when her hand brushed along the material of Peter's uniform, and she clutched it tightly. That was her only way to make sure he stayed okay while she kept her eyes peeled everywhere else.

Kiselyov's cane hitting the ground brought her attention to her left. She didn't even let his form become visible; she simply waved her hand and sent a big enough wave of energy to blow him up, but the ice sliding out of the dark hallway deepened her frown.

Amara backed the both of them up to a wall, which gave her a better view of the throne room. She cursed internally. There were a lot more doors and hallways than she realized.

"Did you find the others?" she asked, keeping her voice low so she could focus on hearing what went around them. Her brow quirked at a cane that appeared on the other side of the room, and she shoved the next Ice-Kiselyov through the wall behind him with her power. The wall crumbled on top of it, and a dust cloud formed after.

Peter's voice was quiet in her ear. "Yeah. They're in cages in another section of the base. Suyin's with them."

Amara nodded. "I found a plane, but destroyed the rest so they couldn't follow. It's the biggest one they have."

Another Ice-Kiselyov appeared on the balcony where she first saw Peter, and she used her power to pull him down to her, then crushed his face. Little pieces of ice flew through the air as he fell to the ground.

"You need to get them on that plane and get out."

"What about you?" Peter asked.

"You can't have Kiselyov on your ass," she answered. "He'll never let you leave."

Peter's hand on her shoulder made her pause. "And I'm not leaving without you."

She sighed, and once she determined the room was empty (for now), she turned around slowly. "He knows he needs me most. He knows I'm his biggest threat. It's why I'm dorogaya, after all."

Carefully, Amara put her hand on his forehead, searching for her power and gently calling it back to her fingers. It was a risky move for her to let It into Peter, but they made a deal. It was only allowed in to warn Peter and help him find her - Remedy would have spotted anything else she tried.

But It was fighting her again. She could feel the tug of her power as she called It, and she clenched her teeth. Now was not the time. They had to go.

Kahuna, I want to stay with him.

No. That wasn't the deal. Besides, they both knew what It would be allowed to do if It stayed with her. Amara was going to need a lot of help now that Kiselyov had powers.

But-

No.

She could actually hear the whine of complaint from her power, but all she felt was relief as It slowly crept back. She was a little angrier, too, as she gathered the rest of her mutation, and she did her best to control the anger, and direct it to where it was needed.

A deep breath wracked her body as she finished, and when she opened her eyes, she was satisfied to see the deep brown she secretly adored staring back at her. Peter looked so much better without any of her influence around him. He was good. He was good.