Chapter Seventeen

Natasha looked at the scene before them, her jaw set grimly. Someone had started a fire and the noise of engines racing there almost drowned out the general panic that ensued. Not quite though.

Steve's announcement of zero casualties hadn't remained true for very long. Hill had kept them up to date on the plane, the army had moved in along with SHIELD, but it was impossible when civilians were the ones causing trouble under mind control. The problem wasn't that they were all being controlled at once, they were given clear evidence that wasn't the case. Natasha scowled at the general panic that had claimed the lives, rather than anything Hornet herself had actually done.

The Avengers, suited up except for Bruce, stepped out into the Miami sun. Natasha barely blinked at Stark rose above them loudly and they began to approach the centre of the riot. Some people parted and were being taken aside by cops and soldiers, others were too crazed.

"There's something you should all know," Phil said in their ears. "Greyhound was being held in the airport. He's now missing." There was a heavy silence as the team processed that. Natasha looked at Bruce, seeing what looked like a brief flash of anger.

"We don't have time for that," Steve told them firmly. "Tony, try and keep anyone who isn't in their own mind within this square, Clint, we need you up on a roof looking for Hornet. We find her, we can stop this. Bruce-"

"Stay calm?" Bruce gave Steve a pained smile. "I'll stay at the perimeter with the security personnel." Steve nodded. With so many civilians around, Hulk couldn't help them.

Natasha followed Steve into the middle of the fray, flooring a few of the larger weirdoes who came at her. They avoided harming civilians as much as possible, and the riot wasn't aimed at anything. Just a general mess.

That was, until the gun shots rang out. Natasha was buffeted to one side, almost losing her footing as the crowd began to scream and run in every direction.

"Romanoff!" She heard Steve yell from a few feet away but she couldn't see him. It was impossible to know who was firing from the ground and Natasha tried to get a hand to her ear to call for Clint only to be pushed back.

"Hawkeye?" she yelled as soon as she managed to press her comm.

"There's a group of armed gunmen in the centre. They're protecting something. Tony's going in to try and take them out. Where are you, Tasha?" She was too short, she realised to be seen in the crowd, even her hair didn't stand out enough. "I've got a tag on the Cap." Natasha had to find him, darting through the gaps until she heard his voice again. Steve was buffeted right into her, the pair of them grabbing onto each other for a second to avoid being pulled apart.

"We have to get to the centre of the car park," Natasha told him. Together they pushed against the flow, one hand holding the other's arm. Shots rang out again and the screams of someone in pain muffled by Tony's return fire.

"We've got wounded, and they're protecting Hornet as she leaves. I've got a lock on her," Stark told them. "They're moving west, right towards you, Cap." The throng around them was getting more frantic to run from the oncoming group, Natasha hit back at the elbow that smashed her ribs. In the crush she couldn't move to fight, not that she could do anything to the civilians. One wrong foot and they would be crushed on the floor. Already they had tripped over someone who had fallen over, with no choice but to leave them and press on.

"Okay, she's telling them my next move, I can't hit them," Tony growled in frustration. "Got one. There's another six. You're two metres away, Cap." Natasha could see the gunmen now, the crowd had thinned as people got away from the shots. She pulled out her gun and fired, hitting one's shoulder even as they turned to meet them. Hornet knew their every move, directing her guards as a Queen would workers in the hive. Natasha didn't pause to overthink that connection. Of Hornet's seven guards, two were now down. Steve had taken a shot, Natasha realised suddenly but was ignoring it.

A arrow came out of nowhere to hit a third guard before he could react. Natasha saw Hornet look up, stunned before she dived out of sight again. There were bodies around them, civilians caught in the crossfire. Natasha hit the fourth guard, by now they should have broken. The three that remained moved in perfect sync, the way Natasha and Juliette could sometimes when they knew each other so well they could guess the next blow coming. Still, they were holding their own, Tony kept making noises like a tin can, bullets bouncing off of him.

Then a shriek echoed out and a fifth guard fell, his attacker standing behind him. Natasha almost aimed at Greyhound before Steve stepped in front of her and the three of them rounded on the last two guards and Hornet. Surrounded from the air and three sides, Hornet simply gave them a smile and reached out to touch the nearest guard. Natasha shot the other one as the ability to expect her moves was lost to him.

"Bring her in," Phil said in her ear. "The council wants her alive." Natasha was about to argue when she saw the bomb in mid-air. Steve flung himself away, toppling Greyhound as he did so. Natasha managed to scream Tony's name before hitting the floor and rolling. The explosion knocked her further, ripping through her head as the wave rocked past her.

The world fell very still and quiet as the shock faded, sound gradually coming back to Natasha's ears.

"Stark?" Steve called. "Romanoff?"

"Ouch," they heard Tony answer. "All good her."

"I'm fine," Natasha told them, picking herself up. The explosion had been tiny, enough to knock them down but that was it. The guard was dead, Hornet was gone.

"I've lost the mark," Clint said quietly through the comm.

"Get back here, all of you," came Phil's order. Natasha looked herself over, cuts and bruises and a headache to match the bang that half deafened her. She glanced at Steve, his thigh was bleeding and he was covered in dust. Greyhound suddenly had her gun pointing at him, and he raised his hands in defeat.

"Wait," said Steve. "You weren't on her side." Greyhound shook his head.

"Of the two offers, at least you're not psychos," he answered. Natasha didn't think too much of that but Steve sent her a look that told her to put the gun down.

"You'll come in with us?" the Captain asked him. Natasha saw something resembling a dog in the way Greyhound nodded too eagerly. "We have Greyhound."

"Yay," Stark muttered sarcastically.