Run to You|Pietro Maximoff

Chapter 04*

Ira sat sullenly on the jet. She stared out the window, watching the clouds pass lazily by. Thoughts whirled around inside her head, causing her skull to throb and Ira to clench her eyes shut and groan softly in pain. The thoughts danced just out of her reach, taunting her as she tried to grab ahold of them, trying to lock on to a specific idea. Every time she tried to grasp the concept, it fluttered out of her fingers.

The confusion and pain tormented her until she just wanted to scream in frustration. But she held her tongue, biting her lip and trying to send healing energy to her pounding head. It partially succeeded, and her brain calmed down until she could finally focus. Ira breathed a sigh of relief, before she settled in her seat, trying to recall what had eluded her. And then it hit her like a bolt of lightening.

Strucker was dead.

He had been her mentor, and the one who started her on her path. He had given her the powers that she now wielded, and he made her the person she was today. And now he was gone.

Klaue had told them, and thought she didn't want to believe it at the time, she knew that it must be true. Strucker would have tried to find them by now, she told herself. He would've tried to contact them. But his didn't. The only explanation, she decided, was that he was buried in the cold earth, never to return. And there were only two people who could've done it. The Avengers, or...

She turned her head to glance at the metal robot sitting across from her. It seemed harmless, almost docile, just sitting in the seat, gaze trained at the floor. But Ira knew what fury and power laid within that hollow metal core. She wouldn't put it past him to strike down someone who opposed him.

But a brief thought flickered into her head. Why? Why would Ultron kill Strucker? The man hardly posed a threat to the hulking metal robot, and they were both fighting for the same goal. What was there to gain? It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.

But as she sat, traveling on a jet to a base home to a man that now lay six feet under the ground, Ira decided on one thing. She would not be weak. She would not stutter or pause as she walked up to Ultron and asked him, flat out, if he killed Strucker. And if he said that he had...well, Ira wasn't exactly sure what she would do then.

Sitting in the jet, gaze unfocused and staring blankly at her hands that fiddled in her lap, Ira steeled her nerves and prepared herself for the confrontation that would soon follow. She didn't even notice when Pietro and Wanda shared a concerned look, or when Emilia glanced her way curiously.

It was only when the jet touched down outside the base did she snap out of her daze, leaping to her feet and striding quickly out of the plane. The others ran to catch up to her. "Ira, wait!" Pietro called, but she didn't listen.

He sped up next to her, the wind rustling his hair as he walked alongside her. "What's wrong?" He asked, but Ira didn't reply. She kept her gaze ahead, even as the Sokovian boy beside her sent her a helpless glance.

Her blonde hair fanned behind her as she made her way past the railroad tracks and into the base. She entered the building, not pausing, even as the others were still behind, struggling to match her fast pace. When she reached the secret room, she immediately scanned it, looking around for Ultron. Her blue eyes narrowed when she saw him, attending to something with the robots.

True to his word, he had gotten another body, an identical copy of the original, except for size. And even thought this new form was bigger than the last one, even though he towered over her, Ira marched up to him, tilting her head to face the metal man. He turned when he saw them, a victorious smile crossing his face.

A victorious smile was etched onto his face at their triumph over the Avengers in Africa. But the smile soon faded as he noticed Ira's stony expression. Before he could ask or do anything, the question fell from her lips.