Running Out » Quicksilver

chapter twenty two

22 x got it covered

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[ Megan's POV ]

"Where's Killian?" I asked, coming up next to Tony and surveying the wheel. I had witnessed Pietro skipping one of the carriages, not evacuating anyone on it, and I knew that that meant it had to be the one Killian was in.

However, I had lost track of said carriage.

"Don't worry, I've got eyes on him," Tony said. But he was silent for a long time after that. Long enough that everyone else came up to stand around us, each one giving Tony a curious look.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Bucky asked, side eyeing me.

I shrugged, conveying that I had no idea what was going on either.

"Tony," Natasha said sharply after the genius still didn't answer. "What's going on?"

His face plate moved up, and he looked over at all of us. "I have a plan," he said, "but no one's going to like it."

Pietro's brow furrowed in confusion, and everyone else had the same look of bewilderment about them. Tony was making no sense, which wasn't exactly shocking, given he was Tony, but this really wasn't a good time.

"What is it, Stark?" Pietro pressed irritably.

Tony sighed, looking over to Clint and Natasha. "I want to send Megan up."

The protests came almost instantly. There was absolutely no pause, and the commotion they were causing was loud enough that for a minute there I couldn't hear myself think.

"There is no way you are sending her up there alone-" That was Natasha.

"The man's nuts! You can't seriously be thinking this is a good idea, Stark!" Clint.

"After what happened last time, you really think-" Bucky was a little louder than Clint.

"No! No, no, and no!" Pietro's arguments sounded more like those of a child, but he was nearly red in the face with how furious he was. He jabbed an angered finger in the air at Stark, "You are not having her do this!"

"It's a terrible idea, and that's coming from me," Clint pointed out.

"You don't even have a good reason to send her," Bucky said, but before anyone could say anything else, Stark interrupted them all.

"Except that I do," Tony said sharply, turning his full attention to me. "You're the only shot we have at getting to Killian without the chance of disturbing, or setting off, the death ray. I can't go blasting in there," he said, gesturing at the ferris wheel, "and neither can anyone else, in case it sets the thing off. If that happens, we have a lot of dead people on our hands." He turned to the rest of the Avengers then. "Megan can phase through the walls, and from there I can talk her through shutting down the machine. It's our best shot."

I didn't wait for any more interruptions or protests. "I'm in," I agreed.

Pietro balked, gaping at me. "Megan-"

"He's right, Pietro," I pointed out, taking a few steps back toward the ferris wheel. I forced a smile. "Don't worry. I've got this."

"Natasha, if you would be so kind as to give Miss Sinclair your ear piece," Stark said quietly.

Natasha shot him a vicious look, before sighing through her nose. She ripped out her ear piece and tossed it to me, and I caught it easily. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," she warned me.

"As if that leaves her with a lot of restrictions," Bucky muttered as I slid the piece into my ear.

Tony's faceplate slid back down, and then in my ear; "Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," I agreed with a nod. I looked over to Pietro then, but where I looked, he'd already vanished from. He was standing smack in front of me instead, forcing me to look up to see his eyes.

He cupped my chin, brushing his thumb across my cheek. "Please be safe," he said quietly, so only I could hear. "I do not think I can withstand sitting by a hospital bed again."

I smiled slightly. "I'll be safe," I promised. "I don't think I can withstand being in a hospital bed again."

"You joke, but it is not funny," he muttered, pressing a kiss to my forehead before releasing me. Before he could escape I wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug, relieved when he hugged me back. When we pulled apart I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek, before turning toward the wheel.

"Don't worry," I called over my shoulder, flying into the air slowly at first so as still to be heard, "I won't be long," I promised before shooting up fast.

"It's the carriage second from the top to your left," Tony informed me. "Try not to kill the guy, would you?"

"No promises," I retorted, heading to the designated carriage. I passed through the wall with ease, landing and focusing in on Killian easily.

He had an annoyingly pretentious look on his face. "And what are you supposed to be? Ghost Girl?" he asked condescendingly.

I considered that jab in silence, my hands on my hips, my eyes narrowing as I studied him. "You're shorter than I thought you would be," I observed coolly.

I'd definitely pressed a button, because he was fast to fume, his eyes narrowing to slits as he scowled at me. "And you're what, twelve? A little young to be an Avenger, aren't you? Why don't you just back off now and I'll forget you were even here." He muttered the next part, "Won't be that hard."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I'm not going anywhere, buddy. You might be though, if you don't watch it. You ever fallen off a ferris wheel before?"

Killian rolled his eyes, waving my question off passively. "Look, if you're here to stop me from destroying the city, you're way out of your depth." His smile was borderline Cheshire-cat, and made me wonder if maybe he hadn't lost a few marbles. "I," he declared with an overdramatic flourish, "am going to destroy just about everyone- starting with the Avengers. I figured the city of London would be a nice touch, too, strike some fear into everyone's hearts so they get the picture . . ." he paused, laying a hand on the death ray and giving me a wicked look, "You know, that I'm in charge."

I stared at him for a half a second longer than I should have, before coming to a conclusion. "Man, you are one big bowl of crazy-flakes, aren't you?"

Killian laughed loudly, a barking, obnoxious sound. "You know what, I'm just going to make this easy- you're going to be the first to go," he said, moving to press a button.

Before he could follow through with the action I raised a hand and sent him flying, pinning him effectively to the wall of the carriage. "I don't think so, buckaroo. Here's the thing you're evidently missing out on," I said, gesturing as I spoke, gradually pushing him harder against the wall in the process. I fixed him with a fiery look, brown eyes threatening to burn gold. "I'm an Avenger. And the thing about Avengers is, we don't die easy. And on the off chance that we do die, well," I gave him my own special brand of a crazy smile, "we don't stay dead. Which coincidentally does not work in your favor."

Before he could make another snarky, annoying remark, I flicked my fingers and knocked him unconscious. He slumped to the floor in a mass, and I twisted to face the machine in the same motion, pressing my finger to my ear. "All right, Tony," I said, looking out over the city, "tell me how to turn this thing off."