Scarlett
Part 26
Natasha knocked out guards as skittles on the bowling lane. The support team of five soldiers who was following her just covered if there was anything to cover this woman from.
"Three of you, find the rest of the avengers. You two with me, we need to rescue Scarlett." She ordered making the group slip.
"Nat, my team is also on our way. We'll be in 3 minutes," told Fury as a matter of fact.
Everyone with earpieces heard shooting and child's voice screaming.
"Scarlett doesn't have these 3 minutes." She ran following the directions on her smart watch which gave the holographic 3D map of the building and was tracking Scarlett.
As three of them turned the corner to the observation post, Black Widow without any hesitation shot two guards in the legs, giving the chance to her support group take the guards down. She didn't think if these men had families or not, the only thought in her mind was to get Scarlett home safe and those bastards, actually, were doing their work and shooting at the girl who hid in the ventilation.
"Scarlett, can you hear me?" She asked agitated knowing that after these loud shots girl's hearing might be damaged. She might have ringing in her ears. The worst scenario was not to hear the child at all.
"Yes," Romanoff heard a hesitant whisper in the earpiece.
"Can you crawl to the exit of the ventilation where you came out at the observation post?" Agent asked and noticed that the whole ceiling was in holes from bullets right to the next corner.
"I guess so," said the child shaking.
"Fine, take your time. Injured?"
"Not badly."
She waited for five minutes for Scarlett's head to appear in the hole of the ventilation shaft. These were the longest minutes in her life. Besides, she didn't have time to relax. The whole prison staff was raised by the alarm and they were fighting the new squads of guards non-stop. She spotted Scarlett's head popping out of the hole while beating the man who was three size bigger than she was. She quickly knocked him out and ran to the shaft.
"Come on, get down. I'll catch you."
The woman helped the child out. Scarlett's left arm was bleeding badly and she also had some blood running down her left hip. The costume was ripped on the left side of child's hip but it was just a scratch while the arm had to be paid closer attention to.
Without any word Nat took out a small elastic rope and tied it right above the wound on girl's arm.
"Ouch!" Scarlett crinkled and hissed.
"We need to stop the bleeding. I would have given you a sedative but we don't want you to tear this prison apart, do we?"
The girl shook her head neglecting the idea.
"Can you walk?"
"Yes." Scarlett said shortly.
Black Widow only now noticed that one of her team was down and another was protecting them from two guards. But suddenly shots were heard around the corner and Fury appeared with some agents.
"Nick, evacuate this mistake from here. I go get the others." She lightly pushed the girl towards her former boss and disappeared at the next turn of the corridor together with other agents.
Maria Hill was monitoring the situation from the Quinjet that landed right on the roof of the Raft prison. Nearby the upper side of the submarine protruded from water surface. It wasn't very big but rather a small one that could maneuver fast to break off pursuit. It was right for a twenty member crew. Nick Fury couldn't find so many loyal agents, though.
"Maria, open the cells of our friends they are at the fourth level," Nat ordered clear instruction.
Nick Fury has just come on board of the Quinjet carrying Scarlett in his arms.
"Fine, kiddo." He sat the child on the chair and prepared the stretchers. Scarlett looked pale and exhausted. The bleeding hasn't stopped yet. "Come here." Very gently he lifted the child up and laid her on the stretcher.
"What are you going to do?" Scarlett asked in horror when she saw a professional medical aid kit in Fury's hands.
"I'm not going to do anything. Maria, take care of the child. I see what we have." Very swiftly he changed their roles to evade any tears or sobs that might follow. He wasn't a doctor. He could say the same about Maria Hill who looked at him as if she wanted to put the bullet in his head right between his good and bad eye.
The woman approached the girl and examined the wounds.
"Did Nat give you any kind of a painkiller?" She asked because the child wasn't crying just hissed from time to time.
"Painkillers drive me mad as well as sedatives. I have to cope with the pain. Don't worry I'm used to it."
After scanning girl's arm agent Hill found the bullet that stuck into the bone. The hip wasn't injured as badly only soft tissues were touched by the shot. The woman managed to stop the bleeding at both parts of the girl's body and cleaned the wounds with some liquid which made the child scream out loud.
"I'm sorry, Scarlett." She tried to hush the girl. "Fury, we need to take the bullet out." Maria informed the man. She wasn't doing well the same as the man.
At that very moment Nat told that they are coming back. In fifteen minutes Wanda, Steve, Bucky and Clint together with Natasha were on the board of the jet. The former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents together with Sam and his friend Scott Lang took the boat. Harley Quinn was taken back to her cell. Unfortunately, she has taken lives of four guards. But as Black Widow said it was their job. Nobody asked them to work in prison where anything could happen.
"Hey, Fox Cub," Steve greeted the girl and looked daggers at Natalie who has already been standing by the stretchers.
"Don't look at me like that. If not for Laura, who went crazy because of the certain man here, I wouldn't stir a finger. The only way how we could get all of you out, is thanks to Scarlett." She said angrily looking at the man. "Besides, children don't like following orders." The last remark referred to the girl who already felt guilty of being an inconvenience for the adults.
"I stopped the bleeding but I'm not sure anyone of us can take out the bullet without any anesthesia." Maria interrupted their friendly dialogue.
"Fine, Scarlett, do you trust me?" Steve asked taking child's healthy hand into his big palm. The girl nodded with fear in her eyes. "Can you sit up?" The child did as he asked and then everyone on the Quinjet stared at Captain America in shock. He hit Scarlett knocking her out.
"Smart move," Nat agreed but also buckled the girl's body to the stretcher in case she comes round quicker than they take out the bullet.
Both of them worked swiftly complementing each other. While Steve was taking out the bullet with a pair of forceps Nat pressed the cotton sponge to prevent the bleeding. Maria managed to remove the sleeve of girl's costume beforehand. The scan showed that there were no bone shatters that had to be taken out, so Nat decided to sew the wound when the bleeding stopped. By that time Scarlett regained consciousness and started to cry.
"Hey, red-head," Clint attracted child's attention. "I know it's very painful but everything going to be fine. Look at me! Let's talk for a while. Can you tell me how Lila and Cooper are doing? I haven't seen them for a long time."
"Is it the way to distract me?" The girl asked sobbing.
"Not the best one but nothing comes to my mind." Barton confessed. "Thank you for helping all of us."
"Stop?! You mean you live together?" Wanda was gob-smacked.
"In the same area. No matter how strong you are, if anyone babbles a word about it, I'll come in and kill you." Nat warned nonchallantly putting another stitch on child's arm. "Including you, Winter Soldier."
"Relax, he's on our side now." Steve commented.
"I didn't forget those bullets in my body I caught because of him."
"I'm really sorry about that," Bucky apologized feeling out of place among these people.
Scarlett cried out when Nat plugged the needle in her body once again.
"Stick it! Nobody asked you to heal that guard. If you followed the orders, you would have been alright now!" Natasha grumbled.
"Grab my hand tighter, smash my fingers if you need it." Steve told the child who held his hand. Every time Black Widow pricked the needle into the skin the grip became tighter on Steve's hand.
"Where are we going?" asked Wanda trying not to look at the child's suffering.
"To a safe place, then everyone goes their own paths," told Fury from the pilot's seat.
In 8 hours the Quinjet landed somewhere in Alaska and everyone went to an old bunker in the middle of nowhere. Still, it was quite a good facility to hide and a well-equipped one.
"Is this where you were hiding all this time?" Clint asked his former boss.
"And yes and no. I have many of such places throughout the world. Moreover, I have never been hiding from anyone. Until now I kept my existence a secret, but I think all the cameras spotted my face in that prison. It's time to remind some high-rank officials that they are playing with fire because of those stupid accords." Fury explained.
After a short shower Romanoff put on some comfortable clothes and helped the child to get into a softer outfit.
"Gees, you've got temperature." She said after kissing the child on the forehead.
"I don't want to stay in bed. May I come with you? Please, please, please." The child begged.
"Yes, but after the meal you go to sleep."
After the prison assault Tony sat in his room thinking about Rhodes attempts to make several steps after that epic fall not far from the airport where they had the fight with Steve and his friend Bucky. Now when Zemo was destroyed by T'Challa, he almost regretted the fact that because of the accords he had to send all his team-mates in prison. Vision left the same day Wanda was taken to jail. Tony hasn't seen anybody since then. He thought about Barton's family and kids but didn't have guts to send any message to his wife. At first, he was too angry with Steve. Barton was the one who tried to help him. That's why he had to accept his fate. After some time, when Zemo's plan was revealed and the criminal was caught, Stark didn't know how to apologize. He was the one responsible for everything that happened to his friends. So, when his phone rang and he was quite sure that something interesting was going on.
"Yes, Stark speaking." He answered. Even though he knew exactly that the man who was calling knew the recipient of the call.
Secretary of state Thaddeus Ross sounded furious but it made Stark smile. Finally Vision took a chance and helped the ones he liked, Tony thought to himself. He disconnected a very angry Secretary of State and jumped from his chair happily digesting the news. Only in the evening after 1,000s of calls from various authorities Tony asked Friday to get the video from the prison.
"Is that?!" He looked at the child coming out from the heating coating. The kid had a strange opalescent suit on. He or she was covered from head to toes in the suit except for fingertips and eyes. Tony stopped the video when the child looked at the camera. He couldn't confuse those green puppy eyes with anything. "Nat, I swear I'll kill you!" He shouted in the air watching Fury taking the bleeding child away.
To be continued…