A Place In This World (Beginnings and Goodbyes, #1) {Completed}

right here by my side

I am human, and I am very afraid. My bow and arrows seem like useless toys compared to the threat Ultron imposes. I tense in Pietro's arms and he notices. One second, we stand out in the open and the next we are shielded in a small alcove on a small side street. He sets me down, and I can't meet his eyes. But that does not stop him from placing his hands on my shoulders like when he had found me alone earlier, and does his best to get me to look at him. When I finally do, he smiles, understanding blooming in his eyes.

"I have your back if you have mine," he says.

I shake my head. "It's not that simple. You heard what was said. We are standing on a weapon of destruction. We are all going to die with no way of saving everyone."

"Maybe we don't save everyone, Cara, but we can do our best to save someone as I am sure the Avengers are doing their best to do right now."

He squeezes my shoulders, that sweet smile never leaving his face. I search for the shift, for the 'but' or 'however', but neither one is uttered. He believes what he said.

"Mindset and perspective do matter, I suppose, in situations like this," I say, running my thumb and forefinger along my bowstring, the curve of my weapon nestled firmly into my back. "I won't back down then if you won't."

"Never. I've been fighting all my life. If you want to be an Avenger, you'll have to do the same." He gestures to the main road behind me. "Shall we?"

"Yes," I say.

He stands to his full height and nods, slips back out onto the side street, but I catch him by the arm, squeeze tight. "Thanks, Pietro."

He shrugs, hands lifted towards the sky. "What can I say? I was blessed with incredible people skills. Wanda, not so much."

"Sure," I laugh, and lead the way. He follows close behind me, and this time, I seem to know where I'm going better than Pietro does. I suspect he worries he'll run too fast and find himself falling off the edge, but I don't mention it. We stay tense and on guard, and we both have seemed to come to the same conclusion. Minimize Ultron's army of underlings. The more of them that are gone, the less control Ultron will have over everything.

We encounter several small groups of these robots, and each time we save each other over and over again. We move intuitively around each other, and more mangled metal falls to the ground. Adrenaline courses through me, and my head is light from the high altitude, but it feels possible all of a sudden, and I have no idea why I was so worried before.

"Cap, you got incoming."

I pull up short, and Pietro meets my gaze. I'd forgotten about our com links, having gone silent upon the first moments of Sokovia's ascension into the sky. But this could mean we are in range with the others.

I hear Steve grunt and breathe heavily into his own com link. "Incoming already came in."

"Do you need me, Cap?" I say, worry cutting through me, and guilt for having left him to deal with the bridge alone.

"Don't worry about me, I've got it covered."

"Wait, she's not with you?" My dad's voice rings sharply in my ear, restrained worry and anger cutting into his every word. "Where the hell are you, Cara?"

I'm almost too stunned to reply because for a while I was fearing the worst, but relief floods through my body. In an instant, Pietro has me in his arms again and he cloisters us into a secluded back alley.

"I'm with Pietro," I rush to say. "I've been trying to find you."

"You're supposed to be with Cap right now, Cara. I cannot believe this. Cap, is this the kind of training you think is suitable for a teenage girl in the middle of an actual warzone? When I get my hands on you—"

"Dad, everything is fine. I'm not alone, and we're making progress. So don't worry. Nobody worry!"

"I'm not worried," Steve says pointedly, and before my dad can protest, the captain continues speaking. "Cara, you and Pietro keep going. Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt them back. You get killed, walk it off."

Pietro and I glance at one another, and anticipation seizes me, adrenaline pumping through my veins.

"Ready?" I ask.

Pietro smirks a little through a few deep breaths, and then nods. He sweeps me out of the cover of the alley, and we're back in the middle of the action. Pietro has apparently regained some confidence as he speeds along, locating a new group of robots taking over another neighborhood square, terrorizing more people trying their best to hide in the church on this street. He drops me off in the center of the chaotic mess, and I start in immediately with arrows, flying, arcing them through the air, hitting their targets, exploding the flying bots in midair while Pietro busies himself by dismantling the ones charging towards us on the ground, the small troop down in a matter of seconds.

The people, under Pietro's instructions, hurry off to one of the main roads to find others, to find a member of the Avengers. I keep to the narrow side street we're on and keep up a jogging pace. My senses don't pick up on any other group of bots, and hope flares bright and hot in my chest.

"Pietro and I are clear," I say, double-checking our surroundings as Pietro joins my side.

My dad checks in not long after I do. "All right, Wanda and I are clear here."

"We are not clear! We are very not clear!" Steve, strained and haggard, mutters.

Pietro picks me up before I can protest, and speeds us along. I have to close my eyes again at how everything blurs and distorts the faster he goes. When we slow again, the second I open my eyes I'm looking at my father as he turns to us.

"All right," Dad nods, smiling at me in unguarded relief. "Coming to you, Cap."

Pietro places my feet gently on the ground and spins around in one fluid motion to pick up his sister. "Keep up, old man!"

Dad releases a disgruntled sigh, exasperated, as he stares after the twins and raises his notched bow, taking aim at nothing now. "Nobody would know. Nobody."

"I would," I counter, laughing. I pat him on the shoulder, his suit covered in dust and dirt. "He's not that bad, Dad. You just have to get to know him."

He glances at me side-long, and I resist ducking my head. "He's too old for you."

"God, Dad." My cheeks are burning. "I don't want to marry him. Be quiet too. He can most likely hear you over comms."

Dad chuckles despite himself. He looks at me fully, and the line of tension across his shoulders relaxes. He scrubs at a smudge on my forehead, and there's a barely traceable smile on his face as he does it, as I let him.

"I'm glad you're safe. I've been worried sick about you."

"Yeah, I'm alright, Dad."

"Good," he says, pushing the loose hair framing my face back behind my ears. "Let's get to the others. We still have a lot to do."

I nod and begin to jog in the direction Wanda and Pietro took off in. I hear my dad close behind me, more muttering under his breath. But I catch some of it, and I smile to myself.

"The last I saw him, an Ultron was sitting on him. Yeah, he'll be missed, that quick little bastard. 'I miss him already'."

"Dad, come on," I say through laughter.

Dad chuckles some more. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Don't worry. I'm right behind you."