Beautiful Ruins

Chapter 20

I walk out of Mystique's office once all the sounds of footsteps have disappeared. The hallway is empty yet again, but I need to walk quietly in case any other x-men are in their offices, I'm obviously not going to make it to Mystique's bedroom, my best chance of getting out of here is the tunnels but it's possible that people could be waiting there for me, the tunnels are the only way in without being spotted on cameras, so it'll be obvious which way I came in. I glance around at the cream walls and all the office doors, nobody's come out of their offices, but maybe they're currently having a meeting.

My heart is racing, and my body is stiff, but I force myself to start walking down the hallway, past all the office doors. Looking through Mystique's office could have proven helpful but it's also the second place Mystique and Scarlett will check, the first being Mystique's bedroom.

I hear footsteps and rush into Hank's office, praying he's not in there. Someone grabs me from behind and I'm about to scream when they cover my mouth. "It's alright, I can help you escape" a voice whispers in my ear. My heartbeat slows down, thank god it's not Hank or Mystique. The person slowly let's go of me and I turn around. I haven't ever seen this girl before; I'd remember if I had.

"I'm Clover" she says quietly, staring at me with beautiful green eyes. She's got white-blond hair that falls just past her shoulders and is wearing a black bodysuit that looks ideal for fighting. If she's planning to help me escape, she isn't an x-men. "We need to go now, Storm." She must be looking into the x-men if she knows my name.

I'm not going to leave this place without serious luck or serious help, so I have nothing to lose by following Clover. Even if she's leading me into a trap, I'll be captured if try to escape alone anyway. The only reason to explain Clover being in Hank's office is to get information which further highlights my belief she isn't an x-men. Also, she looks to be around my age and teenagers hardly ever join the x-men, it's usually kids under the age of ten.

Clover turns right down a hallway; causing me to raise an eyebrow. I think she's heading to the cafeteria, there's nothing in there to help us escape but I keep following Clover because I don't exactly an escape plan, trying to go back through the tunnels won't work. I have nothing to lose by trusting Clover right now.

"Shit, go in that room" Clover pushes me quickly into a room and shuts the door behind us. I hold my breath, too afraid to make even the slightest noise. I have no idea what I was thinking coming here to try and defeat Mystique, I was fuelled by my emotions and now I'm starting to realise how stupid I was, Peter and Tony are probably at Stark towers thinking I'm dead. Tony shouldn't have to worry about that on top of stressing over Rhodey.

"Come on" Clover says, grabbing my hand and opening the door. I frown at the casual way Clover grabbed my hand but quickly follow her down another hallway into the cafeteria. Clover rushes over to a floor vent and pulls it out, she squeezes into it and I sigh. The amazing plan I'm hoping for is crawling through a vent. It better get us out of here. I roll my eyes before crawling in after Clover, if we make it to safety I have so many questions for the blond girl I just met.

"Clover, what exactly is the plan?" I hiss, crawling behind her through the vent. "How do you know your way around here?"

"I've been here a lot" Clover whispers causally as if it's not a difficult feat. Oh, okay, she's broken in here multiple times. The avengers could probably use Clover's help, but I don't know anything about her let let alone if she'd side with the avengers.

After a few minutes of crawling, though the vents make it feel like hours, Clover kicks out a vent and slides down, I jump down, following her. My eyes widen, we're around the side of the x-men institute, Clover actually managed to get us out of here.

"There they are!" Someone yells, Clover swears under her breath, and we hear the sound of gunshots. My eyes widen as I turn around and see a gun being directly shot at us, a bullet heading straight for Clover's head, I yank Clover back and the bullet just misses her. A large gust of wind throws the gun out of Hank's hands and far away.

Clover begins to sprint away, and I quickly follow her, knowing it's only a matter of minutes before the rest of the x-men catch up to Hank and then we're screwed for sure. I want to use my fire or air powers to fly us out of here but I've never used to my powers to fly someone else, I don't want to risk Clover falling down from the sky and dying.

We come across a car parked in the woods and I jump into the driver's seat, Clover getting into the passenger seat, I start driving as fast as I can, knowing the x-men won't have given up already. They'll surely be chasing us until we get back to Stark towers, they won't follow us there.

"Thank you" I say, still panting slightly from all the running. I look over at Clover who glances over at me.

"I figured your powers could come in handy" Clover replies, shrugging like it's no big deal. I don't care why she did it, I'm just grateful that she got us out alive. "Aren't you, like, Mystique's daughter? I haven't been here in a while." I look back at the road, I can't tell if explaining everything for the second time today or just getting shot and dying is worse.

"I'm Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff's daughter, the last few weeks have been confusing" I reply, deciding to keep it as short as possible. "We'll be safe at Stark towers."

"You'd take me to Stark towers? You don't even know me" Clover points out, looking at me with confusion. Something tells me I can trust her, and I've decided to follow my instincts with this, I'm not leaving her to hide from the x-men all alone after she helped me escape. She'll become a target because she helped me so I can help her in return.

I'm driving way over the speed limit; I glance in the mirror but can't see anyone behind us, I still don't dare to slow down, they're coming for sure. It shouldn't take too long to get to Stark towers but I'm not risking slowing down. If I'm not fast enough, we'll be fighting multiple x-men with lots of different powers and they're all skilled in fighting and deadly, we grew up learning how to fight and martial arts.

"Are you interested in staying at Stark towers?" I ask, glancing across at Clover. Clover gives a small smile and nods, I look out the window to hide my smile, I hoped she'd agree. I can't explain it but I know that I want to know her.

I let out a sigh of relief as I see Stark towers, we're almost safe. Well, Clover's safe, I'll be walking back into allegations that I tried to kill Rhodey, I'm just thankful Tony believed me, he's always believed in me since we met. I don't know if I should give Clover a warning that I'll possibly be arrested for attempted murder the second we walk in, it will probably scare her off.

"Mystique shapeshifted into me and tried to kill one of the avengers so I might be arrested when we get there" I inform Clover, who shoots me a confused look. It doesn't really make sense to me either, Mystique shifting into me to get information or to attack the avengers never really occurred to me, it should have.

I really hope Rhodey's okay, I don't know what Tony would do without him. Rhodey doesn't deserve to die like this, nobody does, it's why the x-men need to be stopped as soon as possible, they can't be allowed to continue hurting people.

"Everyone knows Mystique can shapeshift, I don't think anyone would blame you" Clover replies, raising an eyebrow. "Unless they already want to arrest you and use this as a chance to do it." I blink, she's direct. I think Steve's wanted to arrest me ever since I arrived, I thought he was okay with me at the beginning but clearly that wasn't true.

*Author's Note* Clover my beloved! Another original character.