Unforeseen¹

Chapter 34- Everybody lies

Catastrophic.

That's the best adjective Jayden could use to describe the scene in front of her.

Ultron's bots, unfamiliar men and the Avengers were battling it out in the broken, dusky ship. Loud bangs, shouts and gunfire echoed throughout the metal confides from all sides of her, making it seem danger was everywhere she turned. She had her mask interface find Ultron, but to her annoyance, she discovered him brawling in the air with Iron Man.

"This is madness, J!" Theo shouted, knocking out a man who came barrelling at her. "He's unreachable!"

She ignored him and ran towards the nearest metal stairs, deeming she would spot one of his drones from the mezzanine above and, if she was lucky, gain Ultron's attention through them.

A streak of blue made her pause; it zoomed across the balcony of the floor above and if she blinked, she would've missed it. As it sped through the ship, a glint of silver collided with it, causing the blur to be knocked off-course and crash through the metal balustrade.

She jumped back as its descent hurled into her path. As it tumbled painfully into a cluster of crates, it was revealed to be a man. He blinked detachedly and cradled his injured side with a wince. Jayden eyed his strange white hair; he almost looked familiar. Her lip turned up in realisation, it was one of the twins who volunteered for Hydra's experiments.

Sensing eyes on him, Pietro looked up and creased his eyebrows when he noticed her standing a few feet away. "Stark has child soldiers fighting for him now?"

He appeared disgusted, and the corner of her eye twitched. He thought himself better when he allied with men who killed groups of children at a time for mere misbehaviour?

"Shut up, Hydra," she pushed him back harshly with gravity as he was pulling himself back to his feet. "Stay away if you know what's good for you."

She heard his pained grunt alongside the thud as he fell back to his side. She turned away, and without another glance, she continued her quick pace to the stairs. Jumping up two at a time, she stuck close to the wall to avoid the nearby Steve and Thor taking down a bot together.

She stayed still as Steve jumped over the bannister and landed smoothly on the floor below to deal with Pietro, who was once again trying to get back to his feet. She froze when Thor looked her way, but he didn't seem to notice her as he ran by to deal with another unlucky enemy who had caught his attention.

She waited a moment more before she took a leap of faith and hurled herself up the final steps. With a heaving chest, she paused again and cluelessly looked around, to her disappointment, there wasn't any functioning bots in sight.

"If one'll be anywhere, it'll be near the vibranium," Theo interjected her thoughts as he scrambled to a stop beside her.

"Thought you weren't gonna help," Jayden muttered. "Interface, tell me where vibranium is."

It circled the location further ahead, and she went on her way with hurried footsteps.

"Anything is better than standing still in mids- look out!" he quipped before suddenly pushing her forward.

The whizzing of a bullet zoomed over where her head had been a split second ago, and she fell to the ground with a yelp. Her forearms took the brunt of her fall, and she twisted her head, looking up at the bullet hole it had made in a window to her left. It would've been her head if it wasn't for Theo. 

She leaned her forehead on the rusting metal of the floor and gripped it tight, trying to block out the noise of the gunfire before she recuperated herself and materialised her translucent shield around herself as a precaution.