Okay, so at first, I had to handle writing this with no script which was a real pain in the ass. However, the script was released this morning and that is why this is so late. Thank you for all the people who have followed. I don't get any reviews these days, so if you could, please do review, because I really appreciate them. Thank you and please point out if there are any mistakes. I wanted to get this chapter to you as quickly as possible.
LONGEST CHAPTER EVER - OVER 9,000 WORDS
Previous:
I swiftly made my way to the comms room and sat down at the desk, tuning into the comms that the team were using. There was a beep noise to signify that I was online so they wouldn't get surprised if I spoke up at any point.
"Body armour. AR15's. I make 7 hostiles." Steve said through the comms, talking to Sam. I saw Sam begin to fly around and knock out two guards from the helmet that he was wearing. All the Avenger's had cameras in some part of their armour, whether it was the clothing they were wearing or the weapons they had.
"I make 5." he replied as Scarlet Witch flew in from behind him, landing on the floor with such grace and power. I ought not to be frightened of how much power she had, seeing as she was my friend, but I never felt completely safe with Wanda Maximoff in the room. Ever since she infiltrated my mind, I never really felt at ease with her. She's your friend. Stop feeling like this.
Wanda blocked the bullets directed at her and took control of the guards' body. "Sam." she called and Sam flew in as she chucked the body up. Using my S.H.I.E.L.D training skills, I quickly hacked into The Institute for Infectious Disease's database and brought up their security cameras.
"Four." Sam replied. Steve took out another guard as Sam released RedWing to scan the building. A red scanner checked the building, beginning at the top. Redwing was Falcon's idea, but Stark helped develop it. For some reason, the thought of Stark making all these inventions did make me nervous. Tony and Steve weren't getting along recently and I couldn't help but feel annoyed at myself for not being able to help. As the days went by, I became more and more untrustworthy of Stark, my thoughts continually going back to the recklessness he had when he decided to create Ultron, almost destroying the world in the process. I focused on the screens and I could see that Rumlow was on the third floor.
"Rumlow's on the third floor." I informed them as Redwing made it's way back to Sam and the team regrouped in the main entrance way. I quickly looked over the brief they were given this morning to fill myself in and them focused back onto the missions, remembering the key points that had been said.
"Wanda," Steve called, striding over to the woman with purpose, pointing at her. "Just like we practised." I think I had a feeling of what they were going to do, because I remember seeing them in the training room trying to get the move right a few weeks ago. A smile came to my face at the change in Wanda's attitude, once being resistant to join the team. Now she was one of the strongest members, which I was jealous of. Me and Barton weren't 'modified'. We didn't have any serums or suits to keep us protected. We had to work ten times as hard to only be a tenth as good as the other superheroes, which was irritatingly painful most of the time, but I knew that the only way to get better was to work. God, I am distracted today. I shook my head and returned to observing the missing, checking for any agents that were still active in the area.
"What about the gas?" she asked.
"Get it out." he ordered and started to run up to the building. I knew that the gas wouldn't effect Steve, but I was still worried about him. Wanda used her powers to push Steve up to the third floor and through the windows of it. He crashed into the building with his shield and I saw from the inside that he did a forward roll, quickly getting up afterwards to knock down one of the guards, taking away his oxygen mask as he did. He did a powerful kick to the man's stomach, the strength from the serum helping him, forcing the guard into the wall.
As Steve took out the rest of the guards on that floor, Wanda used her abilities to reach the gas. "Maria, what should I do with the gas?"
"Move so it is above the building. Keep pushing it up into the atmosphere until you can feel that it has disapperated." I informed her, checking the screens to make sure that they were recording the dialogue and video. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Falcon checking the life signs of the other agents that were unconscious on the floor.
"Copy that." she replied and followed my orders, pushing the dark, unhealthy looking, green gas up towards the sky, as Falcon continued to shoot down the agents on-foot outside the building. He used his new wings, designed by Tony, to cover him as he shot. He eventually took out the guards as did Natasha, who was on the other side of the building, Falcon doing the same at another area.
I saw Rumlow on of the cameras move his arm, modifying his armour, and forcefully punch a glass door off it's hinges. "Guys, Rumlow has complex body armour. He has special contraptions on his arms that appear to be very powerful. Anyone who battles him, try and take off his arms."
"That seems a little extreme." Sam retorted and I rolled my eyes.
"Shut it, Bird boy." I replied, teasing him. Sam was the funniest guy in the group. Tony had his moments, but his arrogance was higher than his humour, which was another reason why I wasn't overly fond of him. He had stopped with the name calling, but the fact that he did it in the first place hurt me. The good thing about Sam was that he had a healthy amount of arrogance, never once thinking he was too good, unlike Tony who thought he was the bee's knees.
I saw Rumlow practically charging through the facility, pushing the scientists in red hazard suits out of his way, causing them to crash into various objects around the room, the others trying to scurry to leave. His men trailed behind him, standing by his side when he had reached a cabinet. He opened it, but I couldn't quite see what it was, the images on the security camera's not giving a high quality picture. "Rumlow's has taken something from the facility. Don't know what it is. Seems like a storage unit for something." I told them, but the team were all still battling guards, however I knew they would all take in the information I gave them.
People were continuing to fire at Steve and I wanted to be in the battle, helping the team. I felt so helpless in the Avengers Tower on comms. I liked being in the heat of battle, the adrenaline pumping through my veins as I took down all the bad guys. I never wanted to fashion myself into a superhero, but I couldn't help think about the idea of being on.
Steve bounced his shield off a few of the pilars in the building, skillfully hitting one of Rumlow's agents in the face. Steve kicked the man, pushing him into some crates, before catching his shield and taking down another guard, slamming him into a pilar by his leg. Ouch. That must've hurt.
Rumlow was making his way to the back of the building and I knew what to do. "Widow, engage." I said over the comms and a moment later, Nat was coming up to the back entrance on her motorbike, looking as stylish as ever. I wondered what it would be like to be Natasha Romanoff, the beautiful hair and perfect looks. I put my thoughts of jealousy aside as I noticed Wanda finally gaining control of the gas. As she pulled it out of the building, readying herself to push it up, Falcon was fending off the enemies trying to shoot at her.
He held up his wing, using it as a shield to stop their bullets as he shot at them, but it was not good. "Falcon, mini-misiles." I told him and he nodded, turning round to tap on his arm plate, his wings protecting his back as bullets hit them. He shot the mini-missiles as they hit their targets, exploding the agents into flames. Wanda pushed the gas up, quite elegantly, and it dispersed into the atmosphere.
I saw Rumlow exiting the building, shooting a zip-wire to his getaway vehicle. "He's getting away."
"Rumlow has a biological weapon." he said as Nat entered the compound. I sucked in a quick breath at what Steve had told me, my worries about the team's safety increasing, but I put those thoughts aside as Natasha's voice came through the comms unit.
"I'm on it." she replied, allowing her motorbike to slide out from beneath her taking out one of the guards. She shot a widow bite at another guard, as the others loaded up the trucks, and pushed her feet into an incoming assailant. She slammed down the first guard and ran towards an agent trying to get into the escape car, but she kicked the door, knocking him out immediately.
Natasha grabbed hold of another guards gun, using it to hit him in the face. He hit the side of the vehicle and she kneed him in the groin, throwing him onto the floor as she took his gun. "Behind you." I warned her.
She spun round and knocked the gun out of an agent's hands, kicking him in the stomach to face before turning right to spin-kick another attacker's weapon out of his hands. Nat kicked him in the face, sending him down to the floor, grabbing a different guard's arm to flip him over her shoulder. For someone so small, she had incredible strength, perhaps the reason why she was one of the Red Room's best agents.
Romanoff ran up to one of the trucks to get height, before shooting a Widow bite at one of the enemies. Nine guards in under 20 seconds. (A/N - I timed it and it was twenty seconds exactly. Heidi Moneymaker (Scarlet's stunt double) is incredible at stunts) Romanoff certainly was impressive. She sat there for a moment, looking round to see for other threats, but she didn't notice Rumlow who was coming from behind her.
"Nat, behind you!" I shouted, leaning forward in my chair from the intense battle. But it was too late. He grabbed her by her hair and dragged her on top of a truck, Natasha doing her best to get him off of her. She punched him in the chest and hit his arm, probably remembering what I had told the team earlier. He took a hit to the face from her and a back kick, but it didn't seem to affect him at all, his armour seeming too strong.
He took a sweep at her with his left hand, but she ducked, easily getting out of his way, before punching him in the stomach. Nat punched him in his chin, his head flipping up for a second, but he grabbed her hair tightly. I wanted to shout for her, but I knew that I had to keep my mission head on.
"Crossbones is engaging with Black Widow at the back of the building. She needs help." I informed them.
She pulled out a widow bite and pushed it into his neck. I think we were both surprised when it had absolutely no effect on him. He didn't even look in pain. I had wondered whether the widow bite was malfunctioning, but Tony modified, so they would never have a problem. His complete lack of response to the attack left me with a look of confusion on my face, an expression that was undoubtedly on Natasha's face too.
"I don't work like that no more." he said and pulled her backwards, causing her to yelp. He threw her into the truck and I heard her grunt from hitting the floor.
"Natasha!" I shouted. "Anyone, please. Natasha needs help. Now." I was now extremely irritated that I wasn't there to help out with the mission. Why couldn't we have just assigned more people? It wouldn't have gotten her into this situation.
My thoughts dropped out of my head when I saw Rumlow pull a grenade out of his pocket and pull off the trigger. I couldn't quite work out what Rumlow had said to Natasha, no doubt it was something cheesy, but I forgot about it as soon as he shut the top of the truck, realising that he had left her in there...with a grenade about to explode.
"Nat!" I shouted, hitting my fist against the table, worried that she wasn't going to make it out. I saw Rumlow casually walk away from the truck, meeting with some of his guards. I scowled at his image before my eyes were drawn back to the truck by the flashing light of it exploding.
Smoke piled from the back of the truck and I could just make out two figures, an agent lying next to Natasha, both of whom looked to be not moving.
"What was that?" Steve asked.
"Romanoff, are you okay?" I asked, ignoring his question for the minute. I didn't mean to be rude, but Natasha was one of my closest friends. I saw her move, which put my mind at ease a little.
"I'm okay." she replied, drawing a small breath of relief from my lips, and began moving again like she hadn't nearly just been blown up, but that was what we were trained to do. To carry on, no matter what.
Rumlow was now holding a gun attached to a truck that looked much more powerful that a grenade launcher. I saw Steve exit the building and Rumlow aimed it at him. Oh my God...
He fired a shot at Steve and it exploded against his shield, causing Steve to fly backwards from the impact. My heart beat a little faster, but I didn't call out for him as I saw Steve continued to move through the building, Rumlow firing after him, nearly hitting him each time. Every time a shot hit the building, a little gasp was pulled from my throat. I felt guilty for not insisting on going with them. Sure, the team had been through worse, but that wasn't when she was available to fight with them. Steve was thrown out of the side of the building and rolled of a rooftop, onto a truck and then finally onto the floor. "Steve!" I shouted, standing up, my chair being pushed backwards.
I heard him groan over the comms quietly and I had to regain my professional side to continue with the mission. "Captain, are you okay?" I asked to proceed.
"I need a minute. I'll be fine." he whispered and I knew he was lying, that he was actually really hurting. Steve had been thrown around like some kind of doll and Rumlow was the puppeteer. Rumlow must have a lot of power to take down a super soldier and I began to worry that he was actually going to beat the team. Natasha had caught up to Rumlow by this point, but she couldn't get control over him. He was too strong.
"Sam, he's in the main humvee heading North." Steve said, running towards the town, along with the others who were trying to get there too. I got up the CCTV in Lagos and saw the Falcon flying into the town, trying to locate Rumlow's men.
From the security footage, I saw the truck crash into the food market. "Sam, food market." I informed him, remembering that I saw it on the brief they looked at this morning. His men dispersed from the truck as Falcon landed on the roof, getting a clearer view of the enemy.
Using his goggles, that I could also see out of one my screen, he locked the four targets that were on the list of enemies, excluding Rumlow as his suit was a little obvious. We all knew that Steve would take on Rumlow as he was nearing his location anyway. "I've got four, they're splitting up." he reported as Natasha came in on her motorbike, leaving it in between two cabs and running on top of the bonnets of some cars.
"I've got the two on the left." she said, running after them. I was surprised she could still walk after the explosion, but I was overly worried about her. Steve jumped across some cars and rolled over one, landing on the floor beside it. People moved out of the way, some staring in confusion and others in admiration at him. I admired him deeply, more than most. The people around him were talking in their language at him, most of which I couldn't understand. I guessed that they wanted to know what was happening.
"They ditched their gear." Steve reported, staring at the exterior uniforms on the floor before looking around. "It's a shell game now. One of them has the payload." He hardly had time to finish his sentence as he was thrown into an even more dangerous situation. I saw bomb get thrown onto Steve's shield, which he immediately threw into the air, the bomb exploding a few seconds later.
Rumlow make his way towards Steve and I shouted for him. "Steve, behin-" My warning was too late, as Rumlow already hit him in the back with his advanced armour, causing him to crash through the side of a stall. Steve was without his shield and it made me wince knowing he was more vulnerable. "There you are, you son of a bitch." I heard Rumlow say, the comms only just picking up the dialogue. Steve was breathing heavily, tired from the battle that Rumlow had already put him through. He adjusted his arm as he strode towards Steve who was only just clambering to his feet.
"I've been waiting for this." Rumlow said, a little louder and punched him again, this time the shot going to his chest. I tried not to get distracted by my boyfriend being beaten up and focus on the mission of finding the chemical.
I saw Falcon, Nat and Wanda running after the guards. Falcon took two of them out as Nat was still chasing them, Wanda a little further behind. She never did like running. Steve and Rumlow continued to fight as the other members of the team searched for the weapon. The men who were being targeted were running for their lives, constantly looking back to see that our team was getting closer and closer to taking them down.
Falcon flew down, kicking one of them in the chest, sending him to the ground. The second guard shot at him, but Falcon instinctively put up his wing to protect himself. He flew up, the wing still sheltering him from bullet, and kicked the second guard down. He quickly searched through the bag and I leant forward in hope that they might have the weapon.
"Falcon, is it there?" I asked and he dropped the bag, but I saw no vile in his hands.
"He doesn't have it. I'm empty." he replied, mainly pointing it out for Natasha's benefit. She know knew that it was down to her to get the weapon. I knew that this would motivate her more than the normal person as she loved a challenge.
My eyes briefly flickered back to the screen that Steve and Rumlow were fighting on, my heart telling my head to continue looking at them, but I knew that Nat needed me.
"Out of the way!" she shouted, running through a back street after one of the men. She went out of my view for a moment and flipped around the cameras trying to find the best shot of her.
Finally I found one and I saw Natasha jump on one of the guards, taking him down to the ground. He quickly stood up and pulled out a gun, causing people around them to scream. I wasn't worried about Nat as she had been in these dilemas too many times, only once getting distracted when Clint was being hurt, which she paid the price for with a bullet in the shoulder. She easily intercepted the gun, throwing it to the ground.
Nat continuously punches the first guard's throat, the guard stumbling backwards at each throw until another man came on the scene, also with a gun. She grabbed a basket from the market and threw it at him, temporarily stunning him for a moment. She swept him down with her shins and climbed on top of the first man's back, putting her legs round his neck. The other guard ran to help take Nat down, but as she twisted the first guard down, she grabbed the other guard and pulled him down two, all three of them landing on the floor.
"Falcon, get Redwing West." I told him and he tapped his arm, getting Redwing to fly to her position.
The first agent got up and she kicked him in the face. He crashed down to the floor and she ht the second agent. Nat punched him in the throat and leapt over him, grabbing the discarded gun on the floor. She aimed it at the second agent, the people's screams getting louder around them. People started to flee, which was good, because it meant less casualties, but there were a few afraid people that hidden behind the stalls around them. "Drop it." someone said and I wondered why she hadn't already shot him. I had to look at the street cameras and fix them so they were focused on the agents surrounding her. "Or I'll drop this..." the agent finished. Oh God...
He had the weapon. If he dropped that on the floor...it could cause the entire village to blow up. "Stay calm, Nat." I told her and even if my voice wasn't shaking it wouldn't have done her any good. I could feel my breaths getting faster as they passed my lips and I heard Natasha's increase too, along with her BPM count. They could kill everyone. My eyes were transfix and I couldn't seem to move my body, so worried that Natasha was going to get hurt along with all the people in the streets.
I saw Redwing come towards the agents and I snapped out of the trance, telling Nat on the comms "Redwing is coming in. Shoot him as soon as the guard with the weapon has been shot by Redwing. Then grab the biological weapon. Do it quickly." I paused for a moment, making sure the Redwing was in place."Drop it!" the agent repeated.
"He'll do it!" the man with the gun said. My fingers gripped on the side of the desk, my mind suddenly feeling very worried about this plan. I had debated going back on it and thinking of a different one, but there wasn't enough time. We had to act now.
"GO!" I shouted, once Redwing was in place, and the agent holding the weapon was shot by Redwing as Natasha shot the other agent down. She leapt forward to catch the weapon, which seemed to be falling in slow motion to me. My breath caught as she reached out her hand and I was shocked for a second that I thought she wasn't going to make it, but she caught the chemical and pushed herself back onto her feet in the space of a second.
I sighed in relief and put my head on the table, thanking Thor that Natasha caught the vile.
Nat turned to Redwing and said "Payload secure. Thanks Sam."
"Don't thank me." Falcon said and I could almost see the smirk on his face from his tone of voice.
"I'm not thanking that thing." Natasha replied, her voice almost filled with disgust, like a child that didn't want to eat it's food.
"His name is Redwing." Sam replied, as if he were saying it for the thousandth time to her.
"Still not thanking it." Natasha said, stubbornly.
"He's cute. Go on, pet him." he said and I rolled my eyes, a smirk rising on my face at the stupid, yet amusing, sentimentality that he had towards his electronic sidekick.
"COME ON!" I heard a voice shout from across the comms and I realised that it was Rumlow, who was still beating the shit out of Steve. Steve had hit the side of the stool, Rumlow's arm pushing him back with force.
"Rumlow's still fighting Steve. Arrest the enemy and then get to his location." I told Falcon and Black Widow before looking back at the screens, ignoring Nat and Sam still bicker in the background about Redwing.
"This is for dropping a building on my face." Rumlow said, bringing me back to the main fight. He brought up a sword through his armour, nearly hitting Steve in the head with it, but Steve pulled off the arm off. I smiled slightly, happy that Steve was slowly defeating the man that I hated.
Rumlow let a blade slide from his left arm and he began attacking Steve with it, the blade only just missing him at some points. I bit my lip in anticipation and tried not to bite through it watching them fight. Steve kicked Rumlow in the stomach, sending him flying across the square into a table.
Steve strode over to 'Crossbones' as he took his mask off, tossing it aside defeatedly. Steve grabbed Rumlow by the straps on his uniform and I saw from Steve's head camera, hidden in the 'A' on his helmet, that Rumlow's face was destroyed on one side, his ears and cheek structure disfigured. I remembered how much pain he must've gone through from the attack in DC and Steve must've felt sorry for him. I actually felt a small amount of pity for him, but it soon disappeared when I remembered that he was HYDRA and he killed S.H.I.E.L.D agents, some of which were close friends of mine. Steve wasn't like me though. No matter if someone was his enemy...if they were hurt...he would feel guilty about it.
"You know, I think I look pretty good, all things considered." Rumlow said and Steve shook him once to get his attention.
"Who's your buyer?" Steve asked, voice controlled and authoritative. Rumlow stared up at him, a small smile playing on the sides of his face.
"You know he knew you." he began and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. What was Rumlow talking about? "Your pal, your buddy, your bucky." he taunted and I felt my jaw tense at his words. Steve pulled him closer to his face in a threatening way. Bucky...did he just say Bucky? I couldn't even imagine how Steve felt in that moment. He had been searching for months to try and find Bucky with very little success, only finding fragments of information and now here he was, the enemy saying that he had talked with him. My eyes flickered on the heart monitor's of everyone and noticed that Steve's heart rate had increased, not that he would let it show in front of Rumlow. Infact, they had all increased, not as much as Steve's though. I hadn't even realised that Natasha and Sam had stopped talking, completely focusing on the conversation between Steve and Crossbones.
"What did you say?" Steve asked, his voice slightly lacking the control that it had only moments ago. His tone was deep and daring, but I couldn't help but think about his mind processing the news about his best friend.
"He remembered you." Rumlow repeated, taunting Steve, and I couldn't help but speak up on the comms.
"Focus Steve." I told him, but he wasn't listening to me. "Steve." I said a little louder, but he was too transfixed on what Rumlow was saying to realise I was talking to him.
"I was there. He got all weepy about it." he added, my frustration building in my body. Bucky was Steve's best friend and Rumlow was just taking the piss out of him. It made me want to abandon my station and go to kill Rumlow myself, not just because of the taunting, but because of the innocent people he had killed in DC. I never forgave him for that. No one did. God, I hate HYDRA. "Till they put his brain back in a blender." he added. "He wanted you to know something. He said to me, 'Please tell Rogers...when you gotta go, you gotta go...'" I saw something in his hand move.
"Steve! Watch out!" I shouted, but it was too late.
"And you're comin' with me." he snarled and Steve looked down at the device in his hand. Rumlow pressed the button and I gasped loudly thinking that it was the end for them, but Wanda trapped him in a ball of energy just in time. I breathed a sigh of relief, but knew that she actually had to get the explosion away from the people, knowing that she wouldn't be able to hold it there for long. Rumlow screamed in agony at the pain from the fire exploding around him and I had to think of something quickly.
"Wanda, push the energy up. We need it away from civilians. Don't hit the buildings around you." I said and she pushed the energy up towards the sky. However, I could see her struggling to contain it and she groaned from the strain of holding the explosion, which caused something dreadful. The beginning of the end...
The bomb exploded into the side of a building and I gasped at the damage. One of my camera's switched off, one that must've been attached to the building, and I flicked to another. Smoke was pouring out of the building, along with desperate screams of the dying. A bright yellow flame was coming from the inside, pieces of paper and debris falling from it, and I felt my heart ache at the guilt that Wanda must've felt.
"Oh my..." Steve whispered, breathlessly, as Wanda put a hand over her mouth from the shock. The people in that building...I couldn't even imagine the casualties caused. There had to have been deaths from it though. Many deaths.
"W-wanda..." I whispered over the comms, but I just heard her sobs in reply. "Wanda, we...we have to get you out of there okay..." I said, but they were both too shocked by the explosion to realise that I was talking. "Steve!" I shouted and he snapped out of his trance, replying to me, but not taking his eyes off the building.
"Yeah?" he said, sounding tired. I selected a single communication line, so that me and him could talk alone.
"People in the streets aren't going to fans of the Avengers right now. We need to get her out of there." I told him, getting my working head on. I was completely devastated by the destruction Wanda had caused, but people may even try and kill her now that it had happened...I cared about Wanda too much to let that happen.
"Sam..." Steve began, holding a hand up to his ear. "We need...fire and rescue..." The words were coming out, but they didn't have any energy in them. He was shocked. We all were. "On the south side of the building." he added, sounding a little more confident as he also put his head into work mode. However, he wasn't just facing the guilt from himself...he was facing the rage of the people in Lagos.
I heard over the comms that people were shouting at the two left staring at the building. I knew a little of the language they were speaking and they weren't saying anything good. "We've gotta get up there." Steve said, but a bottle was thrown at his feet, causing him to stumble back to where he was.
I noticed a man pushed Wanda onto the floor and started shouting at her. After a few seconds, more and more people joined in, realising that she was the cause of the destruction. She created a bubble around herself, sitting on the floor in the fetal position as people tried to break the dome that she had created. She was crying to herself and the angry citizens punched against the dome.
"These people aren't going to stop, we'll need Vision here." Steve replied, walking towards Wanda before a bottle was thrown at him, smashing against his leg. Wanda had noticed this and lifted her arms so that Steve was protected from the abuse also. All my anger of Wanda blowing up the building was now replaced with sympathy for her. She wasn't in control.
"I've called them." Sam said, his voice not the same upbeat tone that it usually was.
"JARVIS, get Vision to visit me immediately. It's urgent." I said, checking the screens for the other Avengers. I suddenly felt very breathless from watching the screens and seeing all those people abusing the two Avengers that were just trying to save people. Distracting myself, I switched back to all comm units. "Nat, Falcon, are you guys okay?" I asked as I saw them urgently walking through the streets, Falcon carrying a bag with Natasha beside him.
"We're fine." Sam whispered, quietly. "The wings and other weapons have been safely stashed. We're going to the rendezvous point as planned."
"What about the bike?"
"Can't risk someone seeing us. We saw what's happening the Wanda and Steve and we don't have her to protect us from the abuse." Nat replied.
"I'll get it picked up. Did you see what happened?" I asked them, switching to a private line with the two of them, so Wanda didn't hear us talking about her.
"It was Wanda, wasn't it..." Falcon said and I sighed.
"Yes. Yes, it was." I told her, a painful feeling spreading through my chest as I watched people continue to abuse the energy bubbles surrounding Wanda and Steve.
"I don't think she will ever had full control of her powers." Nat responded as they entered an abandoned building that we were going to meet at. The thought of Wanda never getting control of herself actually made me quite upset.
"The bike is being picked up as we speak." I said, sending a text for the extra agents to 'retrieve the motorbike from the town discretely'. "Stay put." I said and went back to full comms. Vision came through the wall and stood next to me. His eyes went directly to the screen and focused on Wanda. I saw his features change for a moment, his eyebrows furrowing at her discomfort, and it made me wonder whether the robot cared for the witch more than just a friend. Fury and Stark had given me a debrief on each of the Avengers when I became their handlers and they had explained to me that he wasn't supposed to have feelings. Perhaps they were wrong.
"I thought your data-banks would've have kept you updated on the news, but I'm guessing not." I said, gesturing to the screens.
"I did not get the latest news about Wanda destroying the building." he replied, concluding that that is what had happened, a softness to his voice.
"Nothing can get through those energy shields apart from you. I need you to quickly travel here and get Wanda and Steve. Black Widow and Falcon are getting onto the plane as we speak." I said, noticing that the two agents were boarding the small helicarrier. I turned on the comms for them. "Falcon, Black Widow. Tell the pilot that you can leave immediately. Widow, get seen by medical on the helicarrier. No arguments. Captain America and Scarlet Witch are travelling back with Vision and will meet you on the way home."
I turned to Vision. "How quickly can you get there?"
"1 minute and 13 seconds." he replied and I thought he was joking, but the serious look on his face told me otherwise.
"Go immediately." I told him and he nodded, quickly fading through the wall. I turned back to the screens and saw the helicarrier taking off, taking Nat and Falcon back to the Avenger's Tower. My attention turned to Steve and Wanda.
Wanda was keeping her shields up strong, but I could tell that she was weakening, the emotional stress getting to her. Steve was holding his side no doubt a injury he gained from being blown out of the window of the IFID building earlier. He was staring at the people that were bashing against the red energy dome he was incased in. He was staring at these people, not trying to calm them down or talk with them...he just stared at them.
"Steve, are you alright?" I asked, quietly. From what I could see on the cameras, he seemed to be in a daze, spaced out from the situation at hand. I didn't get a response. I thought I wasn't going to get one at all.
"Bucky..." was the only word he whispered in reply. Bucky. James Buchannon Barnes, his best friend that was wanted by top organisations and I couldn't imagine how hopeless Steve felt not being able to do anything about it. His voice sounded so fragile, so breakable, and my head ached at the loss of not having him in my arms. As soon as he got back, that's what I was going to do. I just wanted to hold him.
"Arriving at the location." Vision said and I saw on the video, him floating down to Wanda's side. Some of the people surrounding her moved out of the way, shocked by the spectacle, but most of the crowd continued to abuse the energy ball.
"No, Vision. Attend to Steve first. Wanda may not be able to keep his shield up if she is far away from him." I told him and he hesitated before going over to Steve, phasing through the bubble and pulling him away from the crowd. More people surrounded Wanda, her dome stronger from not needing to protect Steve, as Vision took Steve to a rooftop away from the chaos.
Vision returned for Wanda once Steve was safe and entered the red energy dome around her. "You're safe now, Wanda." he said to her.
"I'm not." she whispered. Vision didn't say anything else, understanding that Wanda didn't mean physically safe, but mentally safe. She couldn't control herself. She wasn't safe as a person.
Vision flew up to where Steve was, grabbing him too and made him way back to the tower, his speed slower than before as he caught up to the helicarrier. I sighed and sat back in the chair, leaning against it in defeat. How could it have gone worse? People were dead. Many people. The damage to the building would be costly, but that would be nothing to the damage of the Avenger's reputation. Even though it felt bad to think about, I had to plan strategically, rather than consider how the people related to the dead must've felt. How were the Avengers going to put a positive spin on this disaster?
Wanda was an issue, that much was clear. She was considered a threat to other people and she was a threat to the whole word, which broke my heart to think about, but it was true. After spending a few minutes thinking about how the public was going to react, I went into the kitchen to try and find the rest of the team. I found Clint and Jessica sitting at the table laughing about something. Clint saw me and smiled briefly before seeing my concerned look and dropping his smile immediately.
"Ria, what happened?" he asked, standing up and walking over to take my hands in his, the nickname slipping off his tongue without realising. Him forgiving me for being Black Death meant a lot to me and I was happy that we were back to be being siblings again.
"I need everyone in here immediately. It's an emergency." I told JARVIS. Clint looked at me strangely as the others began to file into the kitchen.
Jane walked into the kitchen followed by Rhodey, Scott and Hope. "What's wrong?" Hope asked, taking a seat next to Jessica and looking up at me expectantly. I looked around the table and noticed that someone wasn't in attendance. It wasn't a rare case for Tony not to be at a meeting, but I did tell JARVIS that it was urgent.
"JARVIS, where is Stark?" I asked, impatient and a little fed up with Stark constantly being late for everything.
"Mr. Stark has told me that he wishes not to see anyone at present." What? Why? My thoughts went to Pepper leaving the tower earlier and I wondered whether something had happened between them.
"Well, we will just have to continue without him. Send him the information I am talking about, please JARVIS."
"Of course, Miss Hill." he replied and I searched up the latest news articles on one of the kitchen tablets. I also brought up the mission briefing to present to them all.
"I'm sorry to say that there has been an accident on the mission that the team went on this morning in Nigeria." I informed them, looking round to see their confused reactions so I continued as I tapped on the tablet, getting his profile up on the kitchen table's place-mats for everyone to see. "Brock Rumlow, otherwise known as 'Crossbones' was looking for revenge on Rogers, because during the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D, Steve hurt him. Pretty bad. Completely damaged the left side of his face. The mission was going okay, the biological weapon Rumlow was trying to steal was retrieved and we were winning. That is until...Rumlow tried to blow the place up."
"Oh my God, are they okay?" Jessica asked, a hand clasping over her mouth when she had finished. No doubt she was thinking about Sam, but the other members of the team she had also gotten close to, especially the women of the group.
"Is Nat alright?" Clint asked, eagerly. I would've laughed at his adorable caring nature for Natasha, but I couldn't find the energy to. I would be telling her about him asking about her tonight though. Maybe it would make her smile.
"Everybody is safe. They are all of their way back. Natasha is getting checked out by medical, as is Steve. They took a few hits, nothing serious, but they are still getting looked at." I informed them, which relaxed them a little.
"There's something you're not telling us. You wouldn't gather us in here just to tell us that. What is it?" Clint asked, his spy intellect coming to hand. They were all looking down at the table, staring at the information being given to them.
"Wanda." I replied and Clint's head was the first to rise. It was more like it snapped up actually, his brotherly protection of her showing clearly. Wanda and Clint were very close, Clint almost replacing Pietro. Almost. Clint would never be the same thing Pietro was to Wanda, but he sure as hell helped her with the pain of losing her brother.
"What's wrong with Wanda?" Clint asked, his tone filled with urgency and worry that he always.
It took me five minutes to explain what had happened. The infiltration, Steve and Rumlow, trying to find the weapon and then..."Steve didn't realise that Rumlow had a detonation device on him." I explained to them, their eyes changing from me to the screen and then back to me again. "When he set it off, it was going to blow up the whole street, but Wanda intercepted it. The power of the explosion...was too much for her to hold. I told her to push the explosion up to get it away from the civilians, but..." I did feel guilt for that. I told her to push it upwards, I didn't exactly give her any help on how to control the energy of push it to another place. However, I did know that there was nothing either of us could've done.
"Nothing could've been done on either of our parts to contain the explosion. When she lifted it into the air...she lost control. it resulted in the side of a building exploding." I said, softly as i stared down at my own tablet, not wanting to meet their eyes as I pretended to scan read something on the screen. "They are on their way back now."
"Wanda did this?" Hope asked and my eyes shot to hers. She sounded angry at the fact that Wanda had killed all these people, but it wasn't entirely her fault.
"She couldn't control it." I replied, but that didn't seem to settle Hope. "I want you to know that Steve and Wanda received abuse from the public. Wanda protected herself and Steve, but they are in a pretty bad way. They need support from everyone here."
"She has just killed these people, Hill. That isn't something to be taken lightly." she informed me and I grit my teeth, trying not to get irate with her. She reminded me of my old-self. I was going to let it pass, because of that, but remembered that doing the safest thing isn't always the right thing.
"We haven't had problems in the past. This is the first occurance."
"But you'll admit she can't control her powers?" Hope asked and I couldn't lie to her.
"No, not fully. She is a vital member of this te-"
"She just caused an explosion. She should not be in the field with no control of herself." she near-shouted. Scott attempted to put his hand on her arm to calm her down, but she yanked her arm away from him in frustration.
"We need to remember the enemy here." I reminded them as I shoved the tablet onto the table, the words pouring out of my mouth. "Rumlow. HYDRA. Terrorists. Anyone else who wants to destroy the world we live in. You can either be with that or against it." I told her. My emotions were slightly clouding my judgement, but I wasn't ready to deal with Hope's bullshit. The team had been through hell and she hadn't been there defending it, we had.
"I'm taking time-off." she said, glaring at me, before pacing towards the bedrooms.
"Hope..." Scott called after her and looked at me. "Can you give me a minute?" he asked and I nodded, letting him follow after the woman.
"When should they be here?" Jane asked, turning her head from the direction Hope and Scott had left in to me.
"I would say 10 minutes, but maybe earlier. JARVIS?"
"The plane has currently just landed on the roof, Miss Hill." he replied and I nodded, realising that they must've switched to super-jet mode, because of Wanda. She needed to come home and, to be honest, she didn't need Hope here to aggravate her. I hoped that she would stay in her room until Wanda was in her own or at least away from Hope.
I got a drink from the side and took a sip before hearing the elevator arrive, the others turning their heads to the sound along with my own looking towards it. The five of them were standing there, all covered in dirt apart from Vision who still had Wanda in his arms.
Natasha and Sam were the one's who exited first, Natasha carrying Steve's shield in her hand and Sam carrying Redwing in his hands. They gave me a small nod and I nodded back. Nat hugged Clint tightly and he kissed the side of head quickly, before she released him to go and look greet Wanda.
Clint ran towards Wanda and gathered her in his arms before whispering in her ear. She looked incredibly limp in his arms and she soon had to be given back to Vision, so that he could pick up her. She was shaking and little shocks of red energy were releasing from her skin.
My eyes drifted to Steve. His head was hung low and shoulders were relaxed, but his jaw was tight and I could see that he was having an debate with himself in his head. His suit had scratch marks on it from Rumlow's assaults and his face had a small scratch, which might have been from the blade Rumlow had. His hair had little pieces of debris in them from where he hadn't bothered to get rid of them. There were little lines of blood on the left side of his face that had dripped onto his suit, a small, red damp patch was sitting just below his shoulder. I had never seen him look so defeated in his life. I wanted to run up and wrap my arms around his neck, hold him close and kiss all his worries away, but I knew that if I ran up to him now he would probably fall over from the impact.
I slowly walked up to him as he walked from the elevator, being the last one to exit, and he stopped in front of me when I got to him.
"Steve." I whispered and placed a hand on his dusty cheek before weaving my arms around his neck. I didn't feel his arms move to hug me, but he must've been in shock from finding out about Bucky. He hadn't heard anything about him in ages. I withdrew my arms, knowing that he wasn't going to respond to the hug, and placed my right palm against his face again, hoping to comfort him. To my surprise, he took hold of my right wrist and softly pulled my hand away from his face. I wondered what he was doing until I saw the pain in his eyes. His grip was gentle, but not in a sweet way, and his eyes were staring holes in the floor.
I didn't understand why he didn't want me to help him. "Steve, you can talk to me..." I whispered, looking into his distracted eyes that were brimming with tears.
"I want to be alone." He replied softly and dropped my wrist, quickly striding past me to the direction of his bedroom. I took a step, debating whether to go towards him or not, but withdrew it, wanting to respect his wishes to be alone. Was he putting Bucky above me? I didn't care about it and I hadn't really expected anything else, seeing as Bucky was his childhood friend. It had been two years since Bucky's last appearance. Who knows what had happened to him. We knew that he was a wanted man, but most likely not under the power of HYDRA. However, that didn't put Steve's mind at rest. We had to find him.
"He just needs time." someone said behind me and I turned to see it was Natasha. She was now sitting on the living room sofa, holding one side of her body as Clint tended to her head injuries. The pair were almost too good of a couple together. He was holding her head tenderly with one hand as he treated the other side, causing Natasha to wince once or twice from discomfort. I guessed that Wanda had gone with Vision to calm her down. The mind-stone worked in mysterious ways. Sam must've gone to tend to his oh-so-precious bird wings.
"How can you be so sure?" I asked, walking over to her.
"Because I've known Steve longer than you. He will be sulking for an hour or two and then walk out the door bursting with apologies for you, trying to make up for being such an ass." She explained and Clint nodded.
"True, true." He agreed as he moved round to the other side of Natasha's head.
"Alright." I replied and turned my head at Natasha. "Am I okay leaving the Hawk to tend to your wounds?" I asked and she looked up at Clint with a grin on her face.
"Yeah, as long as he doesn't mess up my stitches to make me lose even more blood." she replied, narrowing her eyes as Clint rolled his, a smirk coming onto his face also. I think I remembered him mentioning it to me. It was a mission in Budapest I think.
"It was one time." he told us and Nat laughed. I left them in each other's company as I made my way back to the computers, trying to figure out a way to clear up the mess that had been made. I had no idea it would be only the beginning of my problems.
Please review this chapter, because it took me FOREVER to finish, it's over 9,000 words and because of the new announcement below!
EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT: I will now be introducing one-shot Wednesday where each Wednesday I will write and publish a fanfiction in one day. That's right - ALL IN ONE DAY! So please put in a review which characters you would like me to pair up or just do a general story on. This would be great if it takes off and that would mean that I would be writing YOU your very own story. Can't wait! Please review with your characters and ideas!
