Chapter 3
)()()(
Salem sat in the co-pilot seat as Natasha flew the Quinjet, steady but fast as they were over the Atlantic ocean. With one foot on the dashboard, Salem crossed one knee over the other and allowed one foot and calf to just be in the air as she slouched in the seat. Everything on her side was disabled anyway.
Duke slithered down from his perch on her shoulders, going down to the foot that was in the air and dangled himself on there, his tail tucked into her boot a little. He closed his eyes and napped there.
"He's tired," Natasha said.
Salem gently moved his head so it wasn't hanging so much, his little tongue poking out as he yawned. "We've been up since like three AM. The school was getting evacuated and we needed to leave."
"Why don't you sleep? I think the others are already,"
"I can never sleep when I have a bad feeling," Salem admitted. "LILITH, how's my dad?"
"Unharmed. He is still at the warehouse with the Avengers," LILITH said from her phone's speaker as Salem took out her earphones.
Salem let out a deep breath. "Good."
"Does he know about LILITH yet?" Natasha asked.
"No,"
"Probably a good thing," She grinned. "Doesn't want to know his daughter is smarter than he is."
Salem smirked. "A.I.s aren't as hard as you think they are to program. LILITH's been made with a program that continues to evolve and adapt. The more I use her, the more she grows."
"Hopefully not a Ultron situation then,"
LILITH explained, "Salem Stark created me with the intention that I will self-destruct instead of letting another take control over what I have and what I am."
"No chance of another Ultron?"
"Nope," Salem shook her head. "Not a chance."
She noticed that Duke seemed to wake up suddenly, tightening himself around her leg before he twisted himself to get to her shoulders with a hiss. His little tongue flicked out, tasting the air before he just bared his fangs and settled down on her shoulders, his snout near her vulnerable pulsepoint to protect it.
"Hey," Clare came up to the pilot area. "When are we gonna land? Anna doesn't look like she's doing well."
"She probably forgot to take her motion sickness tablets," Salem said, getting up and finding that Duke seemed to stiffen and tighten around her neck as she passed Clare, and loosened after passing her.
Salem took note of Duke's hostile nature towards Clare, finding that he was the same towards Blair.
Anna was sitting in one of the seats, looking a little greener than normal as she frowned and tried to keep last night's dinner down. She clutched her stomach as Blair knelt down next to her in some form of support.
Salem crouched down next to her and went through Anna's bag, trying to find the pills but instead found a pocket knife. The chills of a sixth sense told her this wasn't going to be good, and as soon as the chills stopped, Anna lunged forward and grabbed the pocket knife.
Realising what was happening, Salem leapt to her feet and stepped back as Anna jumped forward with her arm in a stabbing motion. Salem deflected the motion, slapping Anna's hand to the side.
When she tried to turn to Natasha, she found a cold barrel of a gun being pointed at her side. Blair held it, now standing and gestured for Salem to freeze.
"You're not supposed to hurt her!" Blair scoffed at Anna. "We're to take her hostage, dumbass."
Anna waved the knife a little dismissively in the air. "She's a genius. She'll find out a way to get out of anything we put her in."
"Knock her unconscious then," Clare said, pointing a gun at Natasha's head.
The assassin gripped the steering, hands turning white as she couldn't do anything when a gun was being pointed at Salem. If she tried to get the gun out of Clare's hands, Blair could shoot Salem in the time.
Blair nodded to Duke who was slowly going up Salem's form. "And her snake?"
"Kill it."
Blair reached for Duke, being told he was docile and calm and wouldn't attack.
While he prefered to be peaceful, it didn't mean he wouldn't become like the predator he was.
He pounced, striking at Blair's extended hand as sinking his fangs into her wrist. She gasped as Salem took a step back but found Anna's knife near her throat so she froze again.
"You said he was peaceful!"
Anna scowled, pressing the knife a little more into the wedge under Salem's chin. "He's never attacked before!"
Salem didn't speak, trying to figure something out. She didn't want to try anything without getting information first. Allowing Duke to fall to the ground, Blair leapt backwards, one hand already injured and she shot with the other.
She aimed for the snake, watching as he slithered under a seat and found somewhere to hide.
"Don't shoot inside the plane, you idiots!" Natasha screamed from the front.
Clare just jabbed the gun into the side of Natasha's head. "Shut it."
Natasha knew she could have gotten the gun easily, could have taken care of the situation if she was alone but Salem was there and Tony would kill her if Salem got injured.
"Excuse me? Shoot in the plane and you risk an uncontrollable explosion inside with us in here! You'll get us all killed. Are you trying to kill yourselves along with us?"
"She's right." Anna sighed, swapping the knife for the gun Blair had. "Just find the snake and kill it. He's not poisonous or venomous."
Clare watched as Blair tried to find the snake, careful to keep the gun at the assassin in the front. She took a seat in the passenger seat, making sure Natasha kept piloting and stayed away from anything that could be used as an escape or weapon.
"Put the zip ties on her," Anna gestured to her bag. "Those are hard enough to get out of without us noticing."
Blair laughed, reaching into the bag and got out black zip ties. "I remember trying to get out of those in training. They were a pain in the ass."
Anna kept the gun on Salem, watching as Blair went behind her and tied her hands together at the wrists. Blair put her hand on Salem's shoulder and guided her near a chair, shoving her down.
Salem grunted as she hit the chair, but she made no other noises.
Clare handed Natasha a piece of paper. "Put these coordinates in, and make the plane invisible. I know you can."
Natasha stiffly nodded, and did as demanded. It made the Quinjet change course, and she knew it would alert SHIELD.
Tony's name flashed on the screen.
"If I don't answer it, he will get suspicious," Natasha said, gritting her teeth.
"Fine," Clare said. "But no camera."
Tony's voice sounded from the dashboard. "Is everything alright in there? You changed course, Romanoff."
Silently, Clare cocked the gun.
"Everything's fine, Tony," She said, glaring at the gun and Clare before hiding a smile. "Just a bit of unexpected turbulence. The sky's cleared so we will be fine."
"Good. How are they? The girls I mean. Salem was fine before she left. One of the agents checked the girls but didn't tell us. What's their status."
She gripped the steering tighter again, following the new course. "They're good. One was a little motion sick but she's alright now."
"The missiles are still a couple miles away. Tried shooting them but nothing worked so far," He clicked his tongue. "Any ideas, spider lady?"
Natasha laughed lightly, shaking her head. "The place is an island, Tony, with water around it. As long as you get everyone either onto land or air and off the water, you should be able to just get the missiles into the water and let them explode."
He hummed. "Either Vision or Wanda will have to help. I can't get my suits here quick enough."
"Good idea. Look, Tony, the weather just turned bad. I'll connect back when we get there."
"Right," He said. "Happy will be there to pick Salem up so you can get back."
"Sure. Romanoff out." She hung up before turning to look at Clare, eyes flicking between Clare and the gunn. "Stop pointing the gun at me. You'll accidentally shoot and kill us all. It would help if you had the safety off."
Salem snorted, making Clare glare and take the safety off.
"Now you tell her." Salem rolled her eyes and made a show of sighing heavily. Behind her back, she took the ring she always wore on her right middle finger off and kept it in her hand. "So, what's gonna happen now?"
Blair narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"
"You've taken us hostage. I'm curious on where we're going. And definitely what you plan to do with me."
"Don't answer her."
Salem shrugged, jamming her thumb into the inside of the ring. It activated the heat that would emit from the gem, becoming hotter and hotter as she pressed it into the zip tie around her wrists.
"Why not?" Salem said, feeling the way the zip tie broke but kept her hands behind her back like nothing happened. "I'm bored and I have no clue when we're getting to wherever we should be."
Anna shook her head, standing up before crouching before Salem. She flicked the knife around in her hand. "You think we're stupid?"
The Stark heiress reacted instantly, headbutting Anna in the nose. As Blair was distracted with trying to find Duke, Anna was easy to overpower. Salem disarmed her and took the gun.
Grabbing Anna by the shoulders, Salem wrapped an arm under her chin and pressed the gun into Anna's side temple.
Salem sighed, smiling next to Anna's ear as the girl struggled to keep her breath as Salem tightened the headlock. "Sometimes, yes."
As Natasha lunged for Clare's gun as soon as the girl looked over,the Quinjet was put onto autopilot. Natasha knocked Clare out with the butt of the gun to her temple.
Natasha stood from her seat, pointing the gum at Blair.
Blair scoffed, smiling. "You can't shoot me in here. As you said, it'll kill us all."
"I lied."
Natasha shot Blair in the knee, making her collapse onto her knees in pain before Natasha kneed her in the face to knock her out too. Blair and Clare were both now knocked out and useless.
"I hate teenagers."
Salem faked a gasp. "Rude!"
Natasha laughed, "You need to loosen up the grip, kid, or you'll knock her out too."
"Oh," Salem loosened her arms but kept the gun there.
Natasha found the zip ties, wrapping two around Anna's hands before making her sit and doing the same to her legs. It kept her in place and out of trouble as Salem and Natasha sighed.
"I hate HYDRA," Salem said.
Natasha agreed. "So, what was your plan?"
"Like I'd tell you," Anna sneered.
"If you're not going to tell us anything, you might tell SHIELD," Natasha prompted.
Anna just smirked as a beeping sound started from her bag. The other two looked at each other as they quickly went around the place and tried to find it.
There was a bomb in Anna's bag, right at the bottom with bright flashing numbers.
Both swore loudly.
"Not enough time to defuse it," Salem said out loud. "There's twenty seconds left on it. LILITH send location to Dad, message, emergency: hostage situation but not anymore."
The screen on Salem's watch glowed purple as LILITH spoke. "Sent. AnotherQuinjet has been sent to retrieve you. I suggest you throw the bomb out. Ten seconds left."
Salem handed the bag to Natasha, going over to the dashboard and pressing whichever button would make the back door thing open. Natasha threw the whole bag out as soon as the door opened, seconds barely left as it exploded a couple feet from the Quinjet outside.
TheQuinjet rumbled as the explosion happened, making the whole vehicle tremble as a wing was somehow destroyed and an engine lost.
Shrapnel from the bomb came back through the open back, landing on Anna and Salem.
Anna was hurt less, only a couple pieces of sharp metal landing in her shoulder. It missed everything vital and didn't bleed a lot.
Salem gasped in pain as she was forced backwards and onto her ass as metal struck her in the side and abdomen. She clutched a hand to her side as the pain increased with the rumbling of the Quinjet failing.
"The Quinjet is descending at two hundred and three metres a minute, I suggest you leave the jet," LILITH said.
"I would if I could," Salem said, feeling the chill of something down her back.
Natasha kneeled next to her, peeling the jacket away from Salem's side as she looked at the wound. "You need a hospital. It's all down your side and part of your stomach. I can't remove anything unless I know exactly how deep they are."
Duke slithered back up to Salem, forcing Natasha to drop the part of the leather jacket she held. He went up Salem's form, forcing the jacket against the wound as Salem gritted her teeth and groaned in pain as he applied pressure.
The back door was still opened as a sudden storm appeared around the Quinjet. The sky that was once lightening up, was now dark again. There were thunderstorm clouds out there, closing around the jet as the crack of energy could be heard.
A sudden purple light appeared, and the jet stopped falling because it disappeared from where it was.
)()()(
Happy Hogan sat there in his SUV, waiting for the jet as several other SHIELD agents were around him. They had been sent orders about the situation that happened on the jet, something about a hostage situation but they didn't know anything else since they lost contact with the jet about a minute ago.
A large cloud of dark shadows appeared, purple coloured electricity seeming to appear in it before it dispersed and dropped the Quinjet there.
The Quinjet crashed a couple metres as it appeared at the airport where Starks kept their private jets and helicopters.
Agents jumped forward as the jet appeared and landed, the outside of it looking like it went through a part of a meat grinder as areas were scratched and others crushed.
Natasha was quick to get out of the jet, gesturing for paramedics to get in.
While Salem had to be made stable before she could be moved, Anna was handcuffed and brought out on a stretcher before being loaded onto an ambulance with agents with her.
Blair and Clare were checked, Blair's wound attended to but both were quickly taken away by agents.
The paramedics didn't move Salem besides putting a stretcher under her.
Natasha grabbed her phone and tried to get into contact with Tony but the man didn't pick up.
Happy rushed over with his phone. "I'll have FRIDAY tell Tony, don't worry, Miss Romanoff."
She nodded. "Tony will kill me."
Happy laughed but nodded. "He'll be angry but more worried than anything."
One of the paramedics that was with Salem came up to them, the sound of a helicopter coming closer came from the west.
"Miss Stark is stable and we are going to the hospital now, would either of you want to accompany her?" The paramedic said,
"I'll take the car," Happy said. "You go with her. I need to pick up Pepper Potts."
Salem lifted her left arm from the stretcher, wiggling it out of the restraints as she was lifted onto another stretcher before being moved. A paramedic scolded her for moving but she didn't acknowledge it as they moved the stretcher to the helicopter.
"I WANT A CHEESEBURGER!"
Happy sighed while Natasha just snickered as they both walked over to the helicopter which just landed.
"Starks."
"You know it."
"I still want my cheeseburger, Happy." Salem called out again as she was stopped at the helicopter, the paramedics securing her into it quickly before Natasha got in with her. "Pleeease?"
"I'll bring you one!"
Salem grinned despite the pain before pouting like she used to as a child. "Extra onions and extra pickles. And a green Monster?"
"If the doctors allow you to have an energy drink," Happy agreed.
"Sir, what do we do about the snake?" A paramedic asked.
Happy turned cold. "You don't touch him. He stays with Miss Stark at all times unless she goes into surgery. He's docile but try and remove him, he will fight."
They didn't know what to say to that so just agreed to let Duke stay. The snake unravelled himself from Salem's form, collecting himself on her chest where he made a little pile of himself with his head on her sternum as he stared at her.
Salem used her good hand and stroked Duke's head, right between the eyes as he seemed to calm down. The helicopter set off for the hospital.
)()()(