Steve jogged out with her. "Where are you going?"
"Somewhere where everyone isn't insane."
"What are you going to do? Swim?"
"If I have to."
She kept going and lunged off the edge of the Helicarrier.
Before Steve even knew what he was doing, he had stumbled forward and grabbed her by the collar.
"Put me down!" she shrieked.
"You can't jump."
"I can do whatever I want."
"Not commit suicide."
She paused her struggle for a moment in confusion, and Steve took the opportunity to grab her wrists and showed her the huge spinning engines she would have fallen into had she jumped as the Helicarrier rose out of the ocean.
"Thanks," she muttered grudgingly, yanked free her arm, walking over to get a closer look at the engines. The Helicarrier hovered only a few yards above the water.
Arguing could be heard in the distance.
"I'm not saying… It's just… She…"
"She has a very… aura!" Thor. "I know it! I've known my brother all my life and visited him every day in prison! Her… her… signature?"
Tony walked on deck and sighed. "Thor, just as much as the next guy do I—"
"Just—" Bruce interrupted. "Uh, here." He turned to Miri. "Try something. Concentrate… on, on, this."
He turned to grab something, and Miri lifted her arms over her head and executed a flawless front flip into the water, in between the engines so as not to get killed.
"Oh my gawd," gasped Tony, running to the edge. "Steve—"
He was interrupted by a second splash as Captain America jumped in after the girl.
He swam quickly, with long, powerful strokes, but Miri was surprisingly fast and had something of a head start.
Not as fast, of course, as Captain America, but impressive.
He grabbed her and she screamed in frustration. Somehow Fury was next to Tony watching the spectacle with his one good eye. "She just won't give up, will she?" he murmured. He almost sounded awed.
Tony glared at him. "This is not something to admire."
Fury scowled. Amazing, really, how he could give an arsenal of dirty looks with just one eye.
She went limp suddenly, and Steve, unprepared, loosened his grip and she dove, deep into the ocean.
"Steve!"
Captain America gulped and dove down after her.
You could hear a pin drop.
And then Miri flew through the air and landed on the deck, shivering. Clint and Tony rushed forward and grabbed her hands, stopping her from any further escape attempts. Clint glared at her. "We're not trying to hurt you."
She returned his look. "But you won't let me go."
He wouldn't look her in the eye.
"I knew it."
"You—"
"I can't help you!"
"Yes, you can!"
She wrenched her wrist away from them and rubbed it, glaring at Clint sourly.
"We're just trying to help," pleaded Tony.
"Well, don't expect me to return the favor!"
"I thought you said it was better here."
"Before everyone got convinced that I had superpowers!"
"Not superpowers—"
"Just leave me alone!"
She stomped through the halls in the lower decks of the Helicarrier, not knowing where she was going and not caring either. She flung a door open and flounced through the room to a large window overlooking the ocean. She was about the slam her fist into it before she was flung into the walls.
"What the—"
"Sorry," mumbled a buff guy as he fiddled around with a syringe, not looking very sorry at all. "Director Fury's orders."
She ducked under a table and out the door and sprinted down the hall past a young woman whose dark hair was up in a bun. The woman gave a start and grabbed Miri by the wrist with an iron grip.
"Let me go!" she shrieked as the syringe entered her neck and all went black.
Tony stomped down the halls with Steve, Clint and Natasha in his wake.
"She's a fast little bugger," commented Clint as they jogged through the Helicarrier.
"Fast," snarled Tony. "Clever. Stupid. Impudent. Young. Stubbourn—"
"Tony!"
Natasha grabbed his wrist and very nearly judo-flipped him over her shoulder, but stopped herself just in time. "Get over it Tony. So, she can execute a flawless front flip into the water. So, she's fast. Smart-mouthed. You just don't like her because you're so alike—that last part, at least."
"Hey!"
They were interrupted by a slamming sound in the room ahead of them. Someone creamed something, and someone replied. A few seconds later—speak of the devil!—Miri came tearing out of the room with a burly agent hot on her heels. She sprinted past Agent Hill, who grabbed her by the wrist. Natasha was just beginning to run forwards as the male agent stabed a large syringe into her neck and slammed her up against the wall with one meaty hand until she stopped squirming.
"Hey!"
The buff agent took one look at Natasha and ran down the hall, squealing.