Chapter Ten
… …
Thor circled high above the road, gazing down. In the shadows he could see Hawkeye and Black Widow driving slowly, following the tyre tracks. Iron Man was already speeding along, trying to catch up with the vehicle. They had found the remains of several trucks along with bodies, evidence of Hulk stopping an attempt to flee by the compound's personnel. There had been no sign of him or the two they were looking for. Finding Hulk would have to wait.
Thor felt guilty about leaving Arella in Midgard for so long but it had been too easy to persuade himself that the longer they left the route to Asgard unused, the safer things would be. Jane had helped persuade him as well. If only he had gone sooner, Arella would be safe. They may even have launched a war of revenge against Jeie for his crimes against Arella and her family. Thor couldn't understand why she had begged him not to set off at once. Surely she wanted her throne back? Her inheritance? He was saddened to learn that her brothers were dead, he had been great friends with them and the one they fought with, Tchako had been a fierce warrior. Arella had once been a fighter too; she had trained with him and Loki as a little girl. Now she had grown into one of the thinkers, one who fought wars with words and peace treaties. He remembered how strange her world had been, in some ways similar to Midgard. Guns, like those Black Widow used, had been Arella's eldest brother's weapon of choice. Thor promised himself that he would drink to their honour and have a saga written for them when he got home.
"Okay, I've got them!" Natasha heard Iron Man's voice coming through the car's dashboard panel. She and Clint were back inside in a flash, having been inspecting the tracks on the grass. They followed the light above them that was Tony Stark back onto the asphalt road. Thor got the message too and landed on the roof.
"Thor! Get off!" Clint yelled, slightly protective of his jeep.
"I wish to hear what Iron Man says!" the god of thunder replied. Clint gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the sound of Thor's hammer being none too gently rested on his roof.
It took them an hour of trailing and various tactics to keep Thor from racing off to blow the truck in front of them up before they reached a large county hospital just outside two towns. Clint pulled in next to the truck they had been following and the two assassins got out, Thor had already joined Tony up in the sky. Natasha spent a minute going through the van before they entered the building causally. The Black Widow handed her partner a scrunched up cloth with a water bottle.
"Hold that on your head and look dazed," she told him. Clint didn't even bother asking why. A passing medical student suddenly noticed he was missing his drink.
"How can I help you?" the blonde receptionist asked in a bored tone. Natasha produced expertly faked health insurance cards and handed Clint's over.
"We just wondered if there was anyone free to look him over, he banged his head pretty hard." Clint supplied a slight wince and kept the bottle clamped to his head.
"Sure thing, take a seat in the waiting room. First door on the left," the receptionist pointed down the hallway. Smiling, Natasha lad the way straight past the waiting room door and to the lifts.
"Basement. It's always the basement," Clint said as the door shut behind them. Natasha was busy with the lift controls.
"I know that. There we go." She had picked the lock on the button that required a key. Down went the lift. The Black Widow loosened her gun and Clint, his quiver back in the car, readied his knives.
The corridor was deserted, full of medical equipment and the smell of sanitizer. The two assassins crept along, trying doors. Finally they found one that wasn't storage. You didn't lock storage as well as you did secret prison cells. It took Natasha mere seconds to coax the door open. A very surprised woman in a doctor's coat looked up from where she was taking a large blood sample from the man lying on the bed. Clint charged her, knocking her away from the bed. Natasha was across in a flash to distangle the various wires and tubes from Steve.
"Glad to see you two," he said brightly as if he hadn't been strapped down with some impressive cuffs only a moment beforehand. Clint had managed to get the woman in a headlock with his knife at her throat.
"Questions?" he asked the other two. Steve shook his head.
"I know enough, just do it and let's find Arella," the Super-Soldier answered without any emotion. Killing people was what they were all trained to do. Clint slit her throat, one last snarl coming from her lips. Looking around, Natasha found Steve's clothes and turned to let him change out of the scrubs he had woken up in.
"Any ideas, Tony?" she asked into her communicator.
"She wasn't brought here with me; she managed to escape back wherever we were before. I don't know how far she could have gotten though; her wing was in a pretty bad shape," Steve told them.
"Looks like Hulk went after her then," Tony said quietly. They all stared at Natasha's arm where his voice was emanating from.
"You three go back to New York, Thor and I will find them." Steve did not look thrilled at the prospect.
… …
Tony landed quietly in the field, taking care to approach the pair slowly. Arella had seen him and put her finger to her lips. He knelt down beside her and the unconscious Bruce.
"Are you okay?" he whispered. She cast her wing a glance and shrugged.
"Bruce, Hulk, explain Tony." Her tone was very similar to one Pepper sometimes used when he had done something to annoy her.
"Wait, not without JARVIS translating. I don't think you'd be able to grasp all of it, okay? Let's get back to New York. Thor!" The god of thunder appeared out of nowhere apparently. "Help Arella, I've got Bruce." Thor turned to his charge.
"Are you grievously hurt?"
"It has stopped bleeding."
"Can you fly?"
"No."
"Then I shall carry you and we will return to Asgard!"
"How about New York first?"
"If we must. Captain America is found." Arella breathed a sigh of relief and clung onto Thor as he raised Mjolnir and lifted off.