*C61 - [See ending for true title].

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E/d note: Special thanks to "Kraxis93" for subscribing as a Luke Sullivan holder! Keep a lookout for his part in this series as Seargent Rax!

'Inner dialogue/thoughts'

"Normal dialogue"

[System]

[Diary entries]

(Word count: 2,190)

~ A few moments before the horde broke out, inside the Peach Blossom Café ~

The atmosphere in the café was tense and uneasy. It had been more than half an hour since Luke had left to find Natasha, and yet both of them had not returned to the café. The café employees, along with Wanda and Pietro, were currently on the upper floor.

While they paced about calmly, their eyes betrayed their worries. The occasional distant roars from outside only heightened the uneasiness of their situation. Crystal was the most anxious of all those present, as the minutes felt like hours for her.

"I can't take this anymore! I'm going to find them!" She declared as she rushed down the stairs to exit the café, her patience finally snapping.

"Crystal, wait!" Wanda called out, but her voice fell on death ears as Crystal kept moving further away. As she was the nearest person to Crystal, Wanda reactively rushed after her, who was then closely followed by Pietro who instinctively moved when he saw Wanda taking off.

"NO!" Adam shouted, however the trio had already made their way down the stairs. Adam and Carmen hurriedly approached the door, but knew that they were too late when the sound of the doorbell jingling sounded out, before a second jingle echoed a few moments later. Arriving by the entrance, Adam cursed under his breath when he did not see any of the three in sight.

"We can't chase after them, Adam. It's too dangerous." Carmen said, as he placed a hand on Adam's shoulder to stop him from rushing out too.

"But we can't just leave them out there!" Adam protested, his frustration evident.

"I know," Carmen started, "But rushing out there without a plan won't help anyone. None of us even have any sort of self-defence training. So, rushing out there with those creatures prowling around will only put us in more danger."

"ADAM!" A voice calling out to him had cut through Adam's thoughts of leaving the café.

'Eve. . . My girls. . .' Frustrated at the situation he found himself in, Adam could only punch at a nearby wall to vent his emotions, "ARGH!" After calming his mind, Adam took in a deep breath as he chose to re-lock the door that had been unlocked earlier by Crystal.

At that moment, April, along with the rest of the staff, had finally caught up to Adam and Carmen by the entrance. April had been checking the news in the personal office while the others were in the lounge. Her face paled as she took in the scene. "What happened? Where's Crystal? And the two guests?"

Adam and Carmen exchanged uneasy glances, before Carmen spoke up. "Crystal ran out to find Luke and Natasha. The other two went after her. We tried to stop them, but they were too fast."

April's eyes widened, "YOU LET HER GO OUT THERE?!" Her voice rose in anger and fear. "HOW COULD YOU LET HER JUST RUN OUT LIKE THAT?"

"They didn't give us a choice," Carmen tried to explain, "They left so abruptly, and we couldn't stop them in time."

"I gave you one job, to keep an eye on the rest of them!" April exclaimed as she glared at Adam, who could only look away in shame. With her frustration boiling over, April moved towards the door, "I'm going to bring them back."

However, both Adam and Carmen stood in her way. "We can't let you go out there, April." Adam's voice was firm as he spoke, before Carmen added, "It's too dangerous out there."

"Get out of my way!" April snapped. Trying to push past the both of them, April was suddenly stopped by a hand grabbing her arm.

"April, stop." Pepper said gently, holding on to April tightly. "We can't afford to let anyone else leave. You can't just run out there without thinking of the consequences."

"Let me go, Pepper." April pleaded, her voice beginning to break as she struggled to free herself. "That's Crystal out there alone for Christ's sake!"

Seeing April's condition, Pepper resolved herself as she tightened her grip, "I know, April. I know. But we have to be smart about this. You're the most level-headed one among all of us, and you know we it yourself that we can't help them as we are. We would only get ourselves killed."

April's struggles began to weaken seeing that she could not get out of her situation. As she slumped against Pepper, April whispered with tears streaming down her face, "What if something happens to her. . ."

"They will come back, April. Crystal, Luke, and the others. They will come back." Pepper said soothingly. She could only pull April into an embrace as April broke down crying, worried about her friends. 'Please come back.'

~ At the same time, with Crystal, Wanda and Pietro ~

Wanda and Pietro sprinted down the street, desperately trying to catch up with the surprisingly nimble Crystal. They turned a corner and finally saw her standing in the middle of the street, frozen in fear. Her eyes were wide, locked onto the creature stalking towards her.

"CRYSTAL, RUN!" Wanda screamed, but her voice did not seem to break Crystal out of her frozen state, nor did it redirect the attention of the creature.

Just as the creature was about to lunge at Crystal, a gunshot echoed through the street as the creature dropped dead. A military squad had arrived just in time, their presence bringing a momentary sense of relief for Wanda and Pietro as they rushed to check on Crystal.

"CRYSTAL!" Wanda exclaimed again, this time her voice finally reaching Crystal as her body started shaking, relieved from surviving the close encounter.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Crystal cried out. Wanda could only hold onto Crystal as she tried to calm her down. Pietro on the other hand went to the soldier that saved Crystal to give him their thanks personally, while the rest of the soldiers began securing their location. The leader of the squad, Staff Seargent Beck, walked up to Wanda and Crystal to check on them.

"Command, we have civilians in the area," Beck reported over his comms, "Requesting immediate extraction."

However, before he could receive a response, the atmosphere was broken by a sudden clicking sound coming from a distance not too far away. From around the corner, a smaller-sized horde appeared, their eyes devoid of any purpose. One of the creatures spotted the group and let out a bone-chilling roar that alerted the rest of the horde. In an instant, the creatures charged towards them.

"Defensive positions! Open fire!" Beck commanded as he raised his rifle and began firing. The Military squad unleashed a hail of bullets, the sound of gunfire ringing through the air as they fought to hold their position and protect the civilian trio. The creatures fell one after another, however, just as it had always been in this battle, their numbers seemed endless.

"We need to get you out here," Beck said, turning to Wanda, Pietro and Crystal. Subsequently, Beck gave his orders for his squad, "Seargent Rax! Get your unit and bring these civilians to a safe zone and wait for evac!"

"Yes sir! On me, let's move!" Rax commanded as he took front lead, with two other soldiers forming a triangle with the civilian trio in the middle, ushering them to follow Rax's lead. As they retreated further from the combat zone, the sounds of gunfire and screams grew fainter, echoing hauntingly in the distance.

"Stay close and keep quiet." One of the soldier instructed, his voice barely above a whisper. "We need to avoid drawing any more attention."

They moved through a narrow alley, hoping to use it as a means to get out of sight from the main streets where the hordes of creatures roamed. The tension was suffocating, each step taken with cautious silence. Arriving at a junction within the alleyway, Rax held his hand up, signalling for the group to halt.

Checking the corner, Rax's expression hardened when he saw a group of creatures standing at the other end of a path, their backs turned to them. Turning around and gesturing for them to remain quiet and keep their eyes down, Rax instructed for one of his men to cross the junction and check the other path, away from the small group of creatures.

The rest of the group waited, the silence suffocating to Crystal who had never been in any sort of warzone. As the soldier walked stealthily and quickly, he felt a drop of water land on his shoulder. Confused, he looked up, and his heart nearly stopped. Above him, on a fire escape, a Messenger stared down at him with unblinking eyes.

The creature leapt onto the soldier below, knocking him to the ground. The soldier opened fire wildly, but the bullets went astray, which allowed the creature to bite a chunk of flesh from his neck, silencing his screams forever. Rax was too late to save his man as he shot down the creature.

The gunfire and subsequent screams had attracted the attention of the small group of creatures at the other end of the alley. They turned their heads, locking onto the remaining group.

Wanda, witnessing the horror unfold, began to panic. Her breathing grew rapid as she backed away from the alleyway, her mind racing with fear. 'We need to get out of here and get to Luke!' Wanda was certain that the only safe place they could be at during this entire ordeal was beside Luke, since she knew that Luke had abilities and had already dealt with these creatures in his previous world.

Pietro was about to follow her, but he noticed Crystal standing frozen in shock once again, her eyes wide with terror as she stared at the fallen soldier. Determined not to let her die, Pietro rushed to her side, grabbing her by the arm as he tried to get through her shocked state, "Crystal, we have to go! Now!"

All the while, the remaining two soldiers tried their best to gun down the creatures that were now advancing towards them. "We need to hold them off so the civilians can make it out of here!" Rax ordered. Knowing that this could be their final moment, Rax and his last surviving squad member hardened their resolve, prepared to die as they emptied their magazines to provide cover fire.

Despite their best efforts, they found their ammunition running low thanks to the earlier fights. Seeing as that there were no other options left and with the civilians still in their vicinity, Rax made a desperate decision. He pulled a grenade from his vest and pulled the pin, the other soldier doing the same.

Both soldiers threw the grenades at the same time into the narrow alleyway, "Grenade!"

The explosion rocked the alleyway, causing a nearby building to collapse. The rubble crashed down onto the entire group of creatures, silencing their roars.

However, the blast also sent debris flying in all directions. Wanda, who had been backing away, found herself trapped as the building began to collapse all around her. She looked up in horror, fear etched deeply into her face.

At that moment, Luke arrived on the scene, still in his Red Hood armour. He saw the building collapsing onto Wanda, and for a heart-stopping moment, he reached out his hand as he channelled his abilities to try and stop the collapsing building.

"NOOO!" However, Luke had been a second too late. The rubbles had consumed the figure that had just been standing not too far away from him. The sight of Wanda's face, twisted in terror, had triggered something deep within Luke.

Luke's anger at himself for being a second too late and the desperation he felt seeing Wanda's expression had unlocked a dormant power within him, a power that resonated with the very essence of the world around him.

A surge of power erupted from Luke as water began swirling around him. In the next instance, his body began levitating in the air while his eyes starting glowing with an intense blue light.

- End of Chapter 61 -

True title: *C61 - Protect Wanda, Luke enters a berserker state?!

Next time in C62 - The Battle rages on, Maximoff Awakens!

Gathering his courage, Luke slowly made his way over to the shadow. The closer he got, the more his eyes widened.

"It's you. . ." Luke whispered, disbelief in his tone.

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