Chapter 3

"What do you mean the suit's gone?" Natasha barked at the billionaire. Tony was speechless at the question. He had no answer to it. Only two words came out of his mouth.

"I-Its gone..." He said, holding out the briefcase which was empty, except a small letter.

Now you don't.

"What the hell does that mean?" Clint exclaimed in frustration, looking at the message. It was at that moment when someone screamed below them.

"FREEZE!" Natasha instantly turned towards Clint, who snapped into a trance.

"Clint-" She started slowly.

"QUATERBACK!" Clint screamed, cutting Natasha off. It was like in slow motion. As soon as he said the word, he quickly jumped over the railings and landed on the bottom floor, running straight to the man who yelled out the word 'FREEZE', which was unfortunately the FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes.

"Clint Stop!" Natasha screamed after him, as the archer and 14 other volunteers from Merritt's trick earlier crashed themselves over the FBI agent. Crushing... From limb to limb.

"WE ARE THE FOUR HORSEMEN, EVERYONE!" The three left over avengers turned towards the four horsemen who were getting ready to make their escape. "AND GOOD NIGHT!"

"Their getting away." Natasha hissed, looking at Steve who immediately threw his Shield towards one of the black ropes pulling the youngest horsemen. It cut through the rope like a knife, making the kid loose his balance and latch himself onto Atlas's rope who, much to Steve's dismay, caught the kid before he could fell into the pile of FBI agents.

"That should us give some time." Natasha announced as she looked at Steve for instructions. He was the captain after all.

"Alright, Natasha, take the left. I'll take the right. And Tony, call Veronica and head towards the roof. They are most likely to get out from there. But remember, no Smashing!"

"Hey, I'm not the Hulk!" Tony protested.

"You act like one." Natasha mumbled before she disappeared through the back, heading straight for the struggling pair in mid-air.

...

"What's going on, Hill? Talk to me?" Fury barked as he entered the surveillance room.

"They robbed the guy. Romanoff, Cap and Stark are going after them."

"Where's Barton?" Silence. "I asked you something, Hill? Where's barton?"

"Sir.."

"He's busy being a football player." Coulson spoke up, trying to hide his amusement.

"What?"

"The mentalist hypnotised him. We can't do anything until it wears off." If Coulson had any humour left, now would be the time to use it. Because Fury's face was turning red every second.

"Sir, let's wait for the others. I'm sure they'll catch them." Maria reasoned. Fury nodded in return.

...

"Jack, hold on to me!" Daniel screamed as he tried to hold on to the young magician as they reached the upper platform of the stage. Using the bars as support Daniel was able to pull the kid up before he could fall to his death.

"What happened?" Henley screamed as she and Merritt helped the boys get on the safe side of the platform. "I heard a snap."

"It was the cap, Hen." Daniel huffed out as he tried to get oxygen in his lungs. Hanging in mid-air is a tough job, especially with someone on one rope. "He used his Shield to cut Jack's rope." Henley looked at the youngest magician who was starring wide-eyed at the recent experience.

"Jack, are you okay?" She asked slowly, worried for the kid.

"Y-Yeah.. I'm fine. It... I-It was just unexpected." Jack nodded, staggering a bit as he looked at the snapped rope in his hands.

"Don't worry, kid. We always got your back. We're a family, remember?" Merritt assured, patting Jack on the shoulder before looking below him. The FBI agents were back on their feet. "I think its best we move out now."

...

"They're on the streets!" Natasha screamed in her ear-com as she made her way out of the theatre. It turns out, Natasha was too late to reach the magicians. They had already escaped from the roof and had blended themselves among the streets where a festival was taking place. It just so happens that she spotted the youngest horsemen, dressed in a blue police uniform, dropping something in Agent Rhodes pocket. Instantly she saw the agent turn towards the kid and run after him. Taking this as her cue, she followed after the two, pushing her way around the drunken crowd. But unfortunately, by the time Natasha was close enough to Agent Rhodes, she had lost the trial of Jack Wilder while the FBI agent was still running around in circles. "He's gone! I lost him on the east." She screamed.

...

Steve Rogers who heard Natasha's distress call, headed towards the east. He was jumping through the roofs to see where the four magicians could be. That's when he spotted the blonde Interpool agent running after three people on the north exchange. He knew what to do. He quickly ran after them, nearly tackling the showmen but missed him inches just before he could get a good grip on the male magician. Apparently someone had fired a shot in their direction, therefore completely distracting him.

...

Tony, who was still astonished by the disappearance of his suit, was running though the east area. Trying to see if he can catch the youngest horsemen, single handily. He couldn't call Veronica, since the place is way too crowded. Calling her would only cause more destruction within the city and the officials won't be too happy about it. There were still some people out there who would do anything to throw dirt on the avengers since they still blame them for the city's destruction.

He was just looking around, trying to ignore all the women falling on him, is when he spotted the running kid. Like Natasha said, the kid was dressed in a blue law enforcement uniform, which made it easier for Tony to follow him among the red crowd.

"Hey Kid, STOP!" The billionaire screamed trying to outrun the kid, but miserably failing. "I'm going to call VERONICA on you if you don't stop!" This Apparently stopped the kid from running any further.

"Who?" Jack asked in confusion, still few meters away from Tony.

"VERONICA!" Tony said loudly, slowing down to a stop as he leaned down, putting hands over his knees to catch his breadth. Damn, he really needs to work on his running. "She's BIG and SCARY!" Okay maybe he's exaggerating.

"What?" Jack said bluntly, not knowing what the billionaire was talking about. Tony sighed. Why is he even trying? Unfortunately Jack seemed to realise that he was being distracted and soon started running again. Before Tony could run again, Jack had already escaped to the roof.

"Cap he's on the roof. Catch him!"

...

As soon as Steve heard Tony's call, he heard a loud thump behind him. He turned around to see the youngest horsemen jumping up, having to escape Tony's clutches. It was at that moment the kid spotted Steve. Surprise and excitement flashed onto his face, just as he ran in the opposite direction to cap.

"Jack Stop!" Steve screamed, trying to ease the boy from hurting himself. "There is no way for you to run." He ran after the kid, as the route took him back to the streets. Steve had to admit, the young horsemen was fast, but Steve was faster. So it wasn't a surprise when he nearly caught the kid but lost his grip when he felt a card hit him on the face. Baffled and shocked, Steve looked at the kid who was holding playing cards in both his hands. They were angled in a throwing manner.

"Really?"

"Yup." And with that Steve was bombarded with cards after cards on his face. It didn't hurt him but it distracted him long enough for the kid to disappear.

"SHIT!"

...

-the efficacy of the FBI's task force as well as the man in charge of the investigation, Special Agent Dylan Rhodes, who was publicly ridiculed, and even tackled at tonight's performance. Talk about a fumble. This is quickly becoming a national story, as The Horsemen have now-

Fury turned the news off as he stared at the avengers. They were back at the Stark Tower in New York. All of them were worn out and felt dejected & angry for not catching the horsemen, except maybe Doctor Banner who was starring at an image of Agent Rhodes in shock and surprise. Something that didn't go un-noticed by the red-head assassin.

"What. Happened?" Fury barked, stressing the two words.

"It was planned." Steve started. "Every single thing was planned."

"Someone's helping them." Natasha concluded angrily, rubbing her forehead in irritation. "Someone who's controlling their strings. Evading about 100 of FBI agents at once is something a amateur can't do. They had everything ready. It was like one big elaborate plan, designed with all the guarantees. "

"Do we know anyone that might be helping them?" Steve asked looking at Maria who was about to open her mouth but stopped as someone else did.

"The question is not who, its How." Barton interrupted who was finally out of his football mode. "What we saw.. what I felt when I was being controlled, it wasn't normal. When Loki had mind-controlled me, I remembered every single thing I did during that time. But when this mentalist did it to me, I didn't remember anything."

"That's what happens when your being hypnotised, Legolas." Tony called out, who was working with Jarvis to find a logical solution to the horsemen's tricks.

"What happened to your suit, Stark? Did you find it?" Coulson asked, suddenly changing the topic.

"Yeah, I found it... In the trash box behind the building." Tony grumbled.

"Next time keep your hands on it." Natasha barked causing Tony to turn towards her.

"For your kind information Romanovoff, I did had my hands on it 24/7. Ask Legolas. He was the one who was being so grabby."

"Hey, don't put this on me! I was the one who pointed out that something was wrong with it." Clint protested. "I was helping you!"

"Yeah, right." The billionaire scoffed. "You were busy being a chicken!"

"I was not!" Clint protested, looking at his best friend for support, but all he got was an eye-roll.

"Yes, you were!" Tony whined back, ready to enclose the video recording of his favourite archer's embarrassing moment.

"Tony, That's enough!" Steve called out, looking at his billionaire friend in irritation before turning to the Director. "Do you have anything that could help us in the capture of these magicians?"

Fury exchange a look with his deputy before turning to the Captain.

"Yes."

"Care to elaborate punk guy?" Tony called out from his large holo-screen.

"Their benefactor is a small group of amateur magicians that claims to have magic. Real magic." Fury answered, putting emphasis on the word 'Real'.

"Real magic as in Loki type magic?" Tony asked, arching his eye-brows in question.

"Similar, but different." Maria spoke up, putting her hands on her hips.

"What do you mean?" Natasha asked.

"The magic these magicians claim to have is believed to be derived from ancient Egypt. As in from the time when the Egyptian gods were here living on earth."

"Egyptian mythologies?" Maria nodded. Tony scoffed from his position.

"Your kidding me right? Last year we had Norse gods and now we have Egyptian gods?... For all we know, Next year it will be the greeks!" The billionaire said sarcastically but stopped as he saw Maria's guilty look. "You've got to be kidding me!" He exclaimed, dropping his mini pad. "There are greek gods as well?!"

"That's none of your business, Stark." Fury barked, changing the subject. "Right now we have these magicians to worry about."

"What do they call themselves?" Steve asked.

"The four horsemen, Captain." Clint answered, rolling his eyes at the stupid question.

"No, I mean the group of magicians that are helping them." Steve corrected.

"The Eye." Fury announced. Behind Steve, Bruce Banner had suddenly peeled his eyes of his twin to look at the one-eye pirate.

"The what?" Bruce blurted out, grabbing everyone's attention. He was stiff and rigid. Anyone could tell that their favourite doctor had heard the name before.

"The Eye, doctor." Fury answered, turning to Bruce. "Their aim... is to use magic and illusion to even the scales of justice."

"But it's not real." Bruce protested, taking his glasses off and shaking his head. "It can't be."

"It's very real doctor. But something tells that you know more about it than I do." Fury replied, looking Bruce in the eye who squirmed under the gaze. "Is this the reason you were starring at your twin for this long?"

"I.. I-I don't know what your talking about, Fury." Bruce said, avoiding eye contact. "I was just shocked to see someone who looks like me. Thats it." Both Fury and Natasha narrowed their eyes at the doctor, Fury being the most obvious one. He gave Bruce one last look before turning towards others.

"Stark, Did you find anything on our doctor's twin?" He asked looking at the billionaire who was swiping something on his phone.

"Well let's see -" Tony listed, as he continued to look at some data on his phone. "- top student, high honours, special agent, solved 215 cases and ah.. look at that brucie, anger issues." The billionaire mocked as he faced his phone towards the doctor. "Are you sure you don't have a twin?"

"What about his personal life?" Natasha asked, grabbing the phone off Tony's hands.

"Hey!" Tony grumbled before snatching it back. "Be patient little spider." Natasha rolled her eyes at the name. The billionaire was lucky that Natasha Romanavoff allowed him steal the phone back, otherwise it would have taken only mere moments for the Russian beauty to twist his fingers in a fit.

"Now lets see.." Tony continued, tapping his phone on the large screen behind Fury. The screen instantly lit up with few snippets of Agent Rhode's file. Bruce Banner inched a little closer to the screen as the room's lights dimmed. "Age 33, born in New York to a couple named -'Peter and Roselinda Rhodes' and one younger sibling- Girl, by the look of it- but died in a car accident at the age of 4. Along with the girl, he also lost his mother." Tony said as he skimmed over the content. "Lived with his father for the rest of his time before entering the FBI academy. Graduated with top scores and became a known legend in the FBI. After that it's same old case solving here and there, and oh -" Tony stopped looking at others. "He has never been married."

"And his father?" Natasha asked again, ignoring the relationship status.

"Drowned in a river."

"I still don't get it." Clint spoke up, pushing himself off the table he was resting on. "There is something wrong with this file."

"Nothing's wrong with this file, Legolas." Tony sarcastically stated. "It's perfect."

"But-"

"Oh Legolas, looks like your having after effects. Go and rest mate." Tony cut him off. "Besides, as much as I love looking into Bruce's twin, aren't we supposed to be worried about the horsemen situation?"

"Tony's right." Steve agreed. "We need catch them before they rob anyone else using their enhanced powers."

"Well then, you better hurry." Maria announced, looking at her own tablet. "I just received confirmation that the FBI has located their location using a bug the horsemen installed in Agent Rhode's phone. They are staying here in New York. "

"Where exactly in New York?"

"45 East Evan St, NY, NY."