It was all so fast. Natasha suddenly stomped her heel down on the foot of the agent to her right, before grabbing his gun to swiftly shoot the agent to the left. Ashley quickly conjured fireballs into her hands and slammed her palms onto the stomachs of both of them, causing them to let out yells of agony and slump over. Natasha grabbed the head of the remaining agent with the broken foot and smashed his face straight into the wall of the truck, not once, not twice - but three times, until he was nothing more than bloodied mush. Natasha dropped his head again, catching her breath, whilst Ashley took it upon herself to speak to Louis. "Louis we've neutralised the ones riding with us," she panted tiredly, "but we still have two driving the vehicle."
"Thank GOD. Nice work," Louis breathed out in relief.
"So…what next?" Natasha murmured.
"Up to you. We have reason to believe they're gonna try and hold you, presumably as a bargaining chip alongside the kids," Louis told them with a sigh. "The comms are going crazy down here but they're definitely taking you in the right direction."
"I say we keep it up," Natasha told Ashley plainly. "I mean either way, when they open those doors we'll be where we need to be. If they wanted to kill us, they would've done it by now."
"Fine, but please be careful. We'll have transport waiting when you come back out with the kids," Louis assured them.
"Will it be trustworthy transport? Because who the hell are these people posing as S.H.I.E.L.D?" Ashley hissed as Natasha shrugged back, still a little dazed.
"No idea, but if we didn't clarify with Fury, who knows what would've happened," Louis murmured coldly. He was clearly shaken too, because his usually sassy voice now sounded wobbly.
"Louis, relax," Ashley sighed, "we're fine now. I mean we're in a truck with four dead bodies and two of them are still smoking - but we're alive."
"Yeah, you did good, Louis," Natasha managed to smile. "You did real good."
"Thanks, but I just want two to stay safe now. I'm tracking your every movement and yes, we have trusted backup ready. We've also completely locked down this line, so nobody but myself and Director Fury can tap into anything since I clearly can't trust a damn person in this fuc-"
"Agent A? Romanoff?" As if by magic, Fury's voice burst through the line, completely drowning out Louis' explicits. Ashley smirked over at Natasha and she returned it.
"Hey Fury, welcome to hell," she drawled, raising an eyebrow.
"Are you two okay?! Damn, I knew something was off," Fury grumbled to himself, sounding genuinely irritated. "You can't trust anyone, you hear me? Get that mission done and then get your asses back."
"We'll be sure to do just that," Ashley replied dryly, nudging one of the corpses with the tip of her boot.
"Speaking of, ya may wanna have a few words with Rumlow," Natasha hissed suddenly. "Sounds like he's got a friend using him to pose as a S.H.I.E.L.D agent-"
"That's just the thing, Romanoff," Fury muttered bitterly. "Commander T. Wyatt isn't posing. That man really is part of S.H.I.E.L.D, and he's damn high up, at that." Natasha's eyes went wide and Ashley's jaw hung open, both of them finding themselves completely lost for words.
"Ummmm Fury?" Ashley winced quietly. "Does that mean we've killed-"
"Regardless of if they were S.H.I.E.L.D or not - I am 99.9% sure they were hoping to kill you at some point. So…no, you haven't done a damn thing wrong," Fury told her firmly. Ashley glanced at Natasha again as they felt the van come slowly to a halt. Natasha crawled over the bodies to peer out of the truck windows. It looked as if they were in a junkyard of some sort, with a few stadium lights positioned above them. The ground wasn't stable, and all the jolted sudden movements were making Ashley feel a little sick.
"Ladies, you're on track. This is where the kids are being held, Wyatt told the truth," Louis quickly confirmed down the line.
"Now I'm annoyed - we so could've walked that," Natasha grunted in irritation, getting ready to jump out.
"Wait! What's the plan, Nat?" Ashley hissed to her.
"I'm guessing they'll have soldiers surrounding you by the time those doors open - so just be ready," Louis told them both hurriedly before he ran out of time, "they'll definitely be armed."
"Armed? Ash, this one is all yours," Natasha murmured, tightening her weaponry belt around her tiny waist. Ashley tiredly flung her head back so that it conked against the metal wall of the van. "Whatcha thinking: fire, wind or water?" Ashley raised an eyebrow and clicked her fingers, those trusty balls of fire immediately floating in her open palms. They were roaring beautifully and their orange glow illuminated their surroundings.
"This is the first time I'll be using this thing on more than one person," Ashley muttered to herself, staring at the flames. "Please little fireballs, don't flop. Do, not, flop. I need this one to come out in a fluid, gushing movement!"
"Ya little fireballs, this would be a really bad time to 'flop'," Natasha blinked rapidly.
"Good luck ladies," Louis hissed hurriedly.
"Damn. We're winging it - Steve would kill us for it, but sometimes we just have to," Natasha smiled over at Ashley, placing a reassuring hand on her knee. Ashley returned the smile and ducked her head.
"I can already hear him telling us off on arrival," she rolled her eyes playfully.
"Same. 'You guys have to think of a plan, it's totally irrespons-'" Suddenly, the van doors burst open, interrupting Natasha's oddly accurate impression of Steve.
True to Louis' prediction, there were around twenty men surrounding the van with their weapons pointed threateningly at both suspecting women.
"Oh! Hello boys," Ashley smirked. Before one of them could command to shoot, Ashley powered up the flames of doom with extreme wind power from her palms, creating a continuous flamethrower-like inferno to engulf them all. They let out yells and screams of agony, some of them falling directly to their knees as they burnt alive - others attempting to run around to try and find a water source.
"Ugh," Natasha shuddered, gagging at the stench of burning flesh.
"Stay here, I gotta go deal with Wyatt," Ashley instructed as she started to back up a few paces on the van floor. She suddenly ran forward and shot wind blasts out of her feet, propelling herself into the sky. She glanced beneath her to see Commander Wyatt already taking off towards a large steel gate guarding a compound, shouting words of panic into his walkie talkie. "Wyatt, where are the kids?!" Ashley shouted angrily, causing him to spin around with wide eyes of horror. She was hovering directly above him and the wind from her feet had blown his hat off, his jacket was billowing behind him and he could barely keep his eyes open.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he shouted back with his hands risen in total surrender, "YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS!"
"Where are the kids?!" Ashley screamed again, clicking a couple more fireballs into her hands.
"T-t-they're in the cells alright?! They're gonna try and bargain-"
"What cells?!" Ashley roared, blasting the fire to fall directly at his feet to make him panic. Wyatt fell onto his bottom and kicked his legs in a fluster, trying to put out the fire before it could catch onto his clothes.
"Downstairs, through the doors and to the right," came Natasha's loud voice from the ground. Ashley glanced beneath her to see her partner run across the gravel, also shielding herself from her helicopter-like wind power. "We got about four minutes to fetch 'em before these guys call for back up, whoever that is!"
"So we don't need this one anymore?" Ashley clarified, lowering herself to the ground again.
"Nope!" Natasha gave her a grim smile before swiftly lifting her pistol and shooting Wyatt square in the head. His lifeless body slumped straight to the floor and Natasha simply stepped over it to make her way to the steps of the compound, Ashley following suit.
"Well, that was fun," she sighed, jogging alongside her.
"Honestly, Ash - the smell of burning flesh is freakin' gross," Natasha admitted with a shudder. "Can't you…use another one?" Ashley rolled her eyes.
"Like…?"
"I don't know dude - maybe we should just get you a gun or something," Natasha grumbled to herself.
"Wait - how did you find out where the kids are?" Ashley piped up.
"You didn't kill all those guys - one was burnt but very willing to tell me what I wanted to know, so long as I didn't kill him," Natasha explained quietly, leading her down the dusty stone steps.
"What did you do with him then?" Ashley muttered, stopping suddenly in her tracks.
"Killed him," Natasha blinked simply before grabbing her arm and tugging her along. They reached the bottom of the steps a few seconds later, soon faced with a secure metal door that was locked shut. The two women stood there with a frown plastered on each of their faces as Natasha placed a hand on the cool metal. "You think you can blast this bad boy open?"
"Not a chance," Ashley murmured back immediately. Natasha sighed and reached into her belt to pull out the small sticking grenade device and placing it on the doorframe.
"Alright, this is where we put your skills to the test," Natasha told Ashley seriously, looking her dead in the eye. "This is gonna blow up and you need to implode it so that we don't get fried."
"Pardon?" Ashley spluttered, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Do you know how fast I'd have to-"
"I don't feel like running back up those steps before it blows, Ash!" Natasha sang as she completely ignored Ashley's self-doubt. "Here we go!" Before Ashley could protest again, Natasha had pressed the button and backed herself up within a few seconds. Ashley let out a gasp and braced herself, hearing the countdown get quicker as it came to the end of its timer, expecting a huge explosion to engulf her whilst having no time to change the outcome.
But there wasn't one.
The door burst open, falling off its hinges and vertically slamming onto the ground with a loud BANG. Ashley jumped at the noise and found herself frozen on the spot, one hand placed shakily on her chest and the other running through her hair in a stressful manner.
She heard Natasha clear her throat from behind her and step forward once again.
"I wouldn't let the grenade blow us up, Ash. I'm not that irresponsible," she rolled her eyes, sweetly rubbing her shoulder as she waltzed past.
"Natasha!" Ashley whinged, stamping after her irritably. "You had me thinking I'd have to reverse an explosion! That was cruel!" Natasha bit back her laughter and continued to follow the map signal.
"And yet you were willing to at least try!" she reminded Ashley in her defence. "I'm proud of you Ash!"
"Shut up," Ashley muttered dryly as they came across another soldier bursting into the hallway. Natasha sighed shot him dead with her silencer without a second thought.
"Now, back to Steve," Natasha diverted the conversation as they moved along. "If we get outta this thing without a hitch, I get to set you two up on a date. Deal?" Ashley let out a scoff and stopped just before they could turn the corner.
"Heat signatures are telling me you got four agents round this corner. They seem unsuspecting," came Louis' voice through their earpiece, making them both jump slightly.
"Got it," Ashley responded firmly, clicking the fire into her hands again before turning to Natasha. "Nat, let the Steve thing go. He's just not ready for it and that's fine!"
"Just blast em, we can discuss it after," Natasha waved her with a small smile, stepping aside so that Ashley could do her business. Ashley grumbled out a few expletives and turned the corner to see three men guarding a cage, all huddled together with their backs turned. Inside the cage were the two kids with dirty tear stained faces clutching each other for dear life. Ashley's heart broke for them - seeing the fear and worry in their eyes was enough to put her in a rage there and then. The guards hadn't even looked up yet, they were laughing stupidly over something on their tablet screens.
Ashley looked at the kids twisted her mouth to the side, still hovering in the doorway. She didn't want them to see what she was about to do - she didn't want to retain that memory.
"Cover your eyes, kids!" she ended up shouting, suddenly alerting the men to her presence. Their eyes grew wide and one of them reached for his gun as the little girl held her brother close and buried her face into his curly mop of hair, doing as she was told. Ashley went for burning rocks this time, shooting them out like bullets straight into the agent's chests, leaving their smoking corpses collapsed on top of one another. "Tash?" Ashley called out tentatively as she rushed over to the holding cage.
"Ya?" Natasha responded, heaving herself into the room with a struggling soldier in her arms.
Ashley blinked at her dumbfoundedly.
"What…the hell are you doing?" she finally spluttered as she turned her attention back to the kids.
"The cell is probably fingerprint locked, duh," Natasha grunted, heaving the man over. The young girl backed up with her little brother still clinging onto her, clearly petrified. "It's okay, the bad man isn't gonna hurt you anymore," Natasha gave her a short smile and grabbed the guy by his hair to show that she was in control. Ashley slammed his hand onto a sleek black pad on the lock of the cage and, within a few seconds, the door clanged open.
"He's m-m-mean," the young girl managed to cry out with tearful eyes, as Ashley knelt down in front of them.
"I know - hey look at me," she distracted them kindly, taking their shoulders. "Hi! My name's Ashley, this is my friend Nat. Your daddy sent us here to bring you home!" The little girl's eyes went wide and she batted her long eyelashes dubiously.
"He…he did?" she lisped sweetly, melting Ashley's heart.
"He did sweetie, I promise you. Pinky swear," Ashley stuck out her little finger with a small smile on her lips. The little girl took a few uncertain pauses before hooking her own tiny finger with hers. "What's your name, honeybun?"
"Lilly, and this is my brother Theo," Lilly introduced them with a scared whisper. Ashley noticed that Theo still hadn't looked up.
"Ah, what beautiful names!" she gasped with a bright smile, hearing Natasha 'dispose of' the hostage behind her.
"Guys, we got an aircraft waiting, did you want us to come in and get you or will you meet us up there?" came Louis voice once again.
"Give us a sec so I can see what we're dealing with," Natasha murmured, frowning at the stats on her watch. Ashley knew that it would have to be a quick matter of trust to get the children out safely, and she needed them to do what she said and fast. The only way she knew how to do that was by proving that she could get them out - just like with Renesme.
"Hey guys, can I show you something? Something super duper special?" she whispered with a little twinkle in her eyes. Lilly blinked her own large hazel orbs before giving a quick nod. "Watch this," Ashley breathed, clicking her fingers so that a rock appeared out of her palm. Lilly's little mouth dropped open in awe, causing Theo to slowly lift his head curiously too. Ashley noticed his change of attitude and decided to talk to him directly. "Hey Theo, look! It's a special rock just for you - take it," she whispered softly, doing it again just for him. Theo slowly reached out and plucked the rock from her palm, clutching it tightly in his chubby little hand with a shy smile.
"Ash, we got guys surrounding the bunker on exit," Natasha suddenly hissed.
"You think they're gonna shoot us?" Ashley murmured to her. Lilly's bottom lip started to tremble at the word 'shoot'.
"We're not gonna land the aircraft," Louis popped up suddenly, "Agent A, you might have to meet us in the air with the kids if you can." Ashley nodded in agreement, chewing her bottom lip worriedly.
"Yeah, it's fine," Natasha's dry voice cut through her thoughts. "I'll find my own way up there, I guess!"
"I'll be able to get you after!" Ashley hissed obviously before turning back to the kids again. "Hey guys, listen. We have the good guys waiting on an airplane, have you been on an airplane before?" Lilly nodded her head and Theo just followed his sister's movements, even though he had no idea what the magic rock lady was talking about. "Okay well you know how airplanes start on the floor? This one is in the air already, and my special powers are gonna take us up, okay?"
"How? Are we gonna fly up on a giant rock?" Lilly blinked with uncertainty.
"No, we're gonna fly up using wind, because I can make that too! Look," Ashley whispered, hurriedly creating her infamous miniature whirlwind in her palms again. Lilly's eyes went even wider than they did before, darting back and forth from the tornado to Ashley's face. "So, what I need you to do is trust me and hold onto me as tightly as you can, okay Lilly? Can you do that for me, sweetie?" Ashley whispered, tucking a dirty strand of her hair behind her little ear. Lilly nodded, scrubbing her tears with her tattered sleeve.
"Ash, we gotta go now," Natasha reminded her quietly, having prepared three metal ball grenades. "I've already set these off for three minutes so that they don't have time to disperse when we turn up - timing is everything now."
"Three minutes?! Why do you enjoy- forget it. You take Theo, I'll take Lilly," Ashley instructed her quickly as she gently prised Theo from his sister to pass him over to Natasha instead.
But her entire body became rigid.
"Um…" she spluttered out a little uncomfortably, "could you take him? I'll take Lilly instead." Ashley fluttered her eyes at her request, incredibly baffled, but had no time to argue.
"Fine," she agreed, holding Theo close to her before running out of the room. Theo clung onto Ashley's neck, nuzzled his face into her and squeezed his eyes shut, whilst Natasha and Lilly ran ahead. They skidded through the corridor again, hopped over the dead bodies and reached the bottom of the staircase quickly, the timer on the grenades already reaching the last minute of its countdown.
"We gotta get the grenades over at an angle," Natasha murmured to Ashley as quietly as she could. Any other day it would've been simple and she'd be able to take them down no issue, but the kids made it all harder.
Ashley closed her eyes to think for a second before they flew open again.
"Quick, give them over," she hissed, holding her hand out to take them. Natasha emptied the deadly little balls into Ashley's hand, watching her place Theo back onto the floor. His eyes welled up with tears and his bottom lip started to tremble, so Lilly jumped into action. She rushed over to tend to her brother so that he didn't make any noise whilst Ashley made her way up a few steps, overhearing the voices coming from different directions.
"Ash, you've got like, 30 seconds left on those things," Natasha hissed in a hurry as she crouched next to the children and wrapped her slender arms around the both of of them protectively.
"I know," Ashley murmured back, focussing on the top of the staircase, "I just have to time it properly."
Once the countdown reached 20 seconds, she placed all three grenades in her left palm and took a deep breath. "Please work," she whispered - before bursting a strong wind burst from her palm, shooting the balls straight into the air and up the flight of stairs. She focussed all her might on keeping them hovered above the agents. "3…2…" Ashley counted in her head - and on two, forced the air to push the balls into different directions, landing on the floor above. Within a spilt second, the grenades detonated with three mighty simultaneous blasts, knocking the agents either off their feet or dead - either way, successfully clearing a path. "Let's move!" Ashley hurried Natasha as she swung Theo back into her arms.
"Roger that!" Natasha confirmed, grabbing Lilly's hand again. Ashley led the way till they were on the clearing. Now there was fire everywhere, some flames roaring and others slightly smaller - all consuming bodies, most of them no longer in tact.
"Ladies, we're just above you - can you see us?" Louis suddenly blurted down the line. Ashley and Natasha immediately glanced up to see the aircraft getting lower and lower by the second.
"Tash, I'm gonna take Theo-" Ashley began, but was suddenly interrupted by the popping of bullets pelting through the air. Natasha quickly glanced over her shoulder to see two agents that hadn't fully been taken down yet, teetering towards them, clearly injured. Their almost drunken-like staggers alongside the orange fiery hue still around them caused them to resemble demons from hell.
"Can you carry them both up?" Natasha blurted to in a panic, handing Lilly over to Ashley without an answer.
"I'll try," Ashley grimaced. Natasha let Lilly go and sprinted over to deal with them, leaving Ashley to reposition Theo on her hip and bend down so that Lilly could wrap her arms around her as well. Luckily, her small frame meant that her weight wasn't too taxing on Ashley's arms. "Okay guys, hold on super tight okay?" she ordered them.
"What if you d-drop me?" Lilly wailed in fear, already clinging on for dear life.
"I won't princess, I promise," Ashley assured her with an honest smile. "Just close your eyes, we'll be on the plane before you know it." Lilly nodded quickly, squeezing her little eyes shut as she was told. "Louis? The kids and I are coming up, please keep the aircraft as steady as possible?"
"Got it!" Louis encouraged her. Ashley licked her bottom lip and glanced into the sky one last time.
"Ready guys?" she whispered to the kids. Lilly gave a stiff nod and, before she could ask another question, Ashley had taken off, using the wind from her feet to propel up. Lilly let out a petrified squeal and continued to clutch onto her suit, whilst Ashley used all the energy she had to elevate herself higher and higher until she reached the aircraft. She levelled with the jet's arrival pad and narrowly angled herself so that she could land properly.
As soon as her feet made contact with the aircraft, she was swarmed by a number of trusted S.H.I.E.L.D agents, all of them crowding her with blankets and foil covers. "Wait, guys! Give them some space?" Ashley asked them with a hiss. The agents did as they were told. "Lilly, honey, we've landed. When you're ready, you can let go," she whispered comfortingly. Lilly cracked a cautious eye open and, once she realised they were safe, finally loosened her grip to stagger over to the agents waiting with the foil coverings and bottles of water. Theo was swiftly medically assessed by another agent, whilst Ashley herself was approached by Louis.
"Dramatic ass mission, huh?" he sighed unsettlingly, looking like he was one breath away from a breakdown as he wrapped her in a hug. "Your heart is beating like crazy, are you okay?" But Ashley started to hyperventilate in his arms, trying to catch her breath and get the words out at the same time.
"I n-need to go b-b-back and get T-Tasha," she managed to splutter out after a few more short sharp breaths.
"She's right behind you - we picked her up already," Louis assured her, nudging his head over her shoulder where Natasha had just arrived. Ashley hadn't even noticed that the aircraft had gotten low enough to pick Natasha up - the strength she had conjured up to propel herself with the kids was enough to knock her out for days.
"Huh? When did she get here?" she breathed out shakily.
"Just a second ago," Louis frowned in response. "Ashley, go and sit down. You did so well but you need to go and breathe, you look dead." Ashley gave a thankful nod and went to sink herself onto one of the benches, leaning against the metal aircraft wall and letting her eyes flutter shut as they began to make their way back to a secure base.
"How do you do it?" came a sudden voice next to her, causing Ashley's eyes to fly open again. It was Natasha.
"How do I do what?" Ashley murmured tiredly, closing her eyes once again.
"Be all….mommy like," Natasha spat out the words a little viciously. Ashley raised an eyebrow and cracked an eye open again, not sure what she was getting at. "I'm talking about how you were with the kids, Ash. You were so…motherly."
"I was? I guess it just kinda…came naturally," Ashley frowned. Natasha twisted up her mouth and gave a short breath through her nose. "Why? Do you not think you were the same?"
"No," Natasha scoffed. She tried to sound jovial but it accidentally slipped out with a hint of bitterness. Another sigh escaped her lips and her shoulders dropped. "I dunno. I just think you were so much better at it…you know, as you said: natural." Ashley nibbled on her bottom lip before delivering a tired playful punch to Natasha's forearm in an attempt to lighten her spirits.
"You were amazing with them, Tash. Don't stress out over it - they clearly trusted you too," she muttered comfortingly, leaning on her shoulder. Natasha smiled briefly, even though she couldn't see her. Ashley was always so encouraging to everybody but herself and it baffled her to no end. She would have minimal faith in herself but the most in everyone else.
The least Natasha could do was help her out a little - right?
"I gotta say though," she muttered, nudging her slightly. Ashley lazily raised her head from her shoulder, blinking in anticipation. "I think you could say we kinda did that without a hitch? Which means you have a date to attend?" Ashley let out a groan and slammed her hands over her face, having seen it coming a mile off. "Just sayinnggg!" Natasha sang cheekily.