Hi, this is F, I don't own any of the Avengers. I hope you enjoy the story.
Chapter 3, Sam's POV
Sam hurried down the street, hat pulled low to defend against the relentless rain. Under her worn jacket was a grocery bag full of bread, water, and fruit, the only things that didn't need to be refrigerated and were healthy enough that Adana would let them eat.
For the last three days they had been living off of sourballs, jolly ranchers, hot heads, puckerup supremes, and joinxs, but Sam's candy supply was running low.
Sam turned towards the waterfront, where they had made camp on the narrow stretch of sand underneath pier 34. Somewhere in the distance, thunder boomed, and Sam broke into a run. She absolutely despised getting wet, almost as much as she hated non Mac computers and raisins.
Climbing underneath pier 34, Sam wrung out her soaked hat and pulled the only slightly damp grocery bag from under her coat.
The shelter they had been living in was basically a lean-to made out of driftwood and old sheets. It smelled like low tide and was constantly falling down, though it was better then nothing.
Next to it, Adana, Cecily (Nightshade) and Agatha (BLizzard) were huddled around a tiny fire.
"Cheer up, all." Sam called, forcing her habitual cheery smile onto her face. "We are not having candy for dinner tonight!" Cecily whooped, and Agatha did a little dance. Adana just flapped her wings a couple of times.
After three days without a shower or clean clothes, they all looked pretty ragged. Cecily's pink shirt had a tear on the sleeve, and her hands were grimy. One of the straps had broken on Agatha's overalls, so it hung down revealing the red sweater underneath. Adana had sand in her feathers and was missing a shoe. Sam knew she looked just as bad.
They ate in silence. Sam knew they were all thinking about Carmen, or The Marauder. She had given up her freedom to save them, and not even Sam's attempts at jokes could cheer them up.
They were all finished eating and were laying on blankets in the lean to, trying to sleep, when Sam said something they had all been thinking.
"We have to find her." Sam said.
"How?" Adana asked miserably. Nobody needed to ask who they were talking about. "She was taken by the Avengers, what are we supposed to do? Ask nicely?"
"I don't know." Sam said, going pink. "But I do know we have to try. She'd do the same for us." We tried to think of what to do, but we had no ideas. The rain kept falling, as four girl's alone in the city slowly lost whatever hope they had had left, of seeing their best friend ever again.
Carmen's POV
Romanaff gave me the heebie jeebies. I could never tell what she was thinking or feeling, and the way she stared at me made me feel really self-concious. I was eating a grilled cheese sandwich and doodling an idea of mine, when I felt the prickling sensation on my neck that told me she was back.
I set down the sandwich and turned to look at her. Her red hair curled under her ears, and her impassive expression one again unnerved me.
"Hi." I said after a moment, when she showed no signs of speaking.
"Hello." She said. "You need to come with me. We have a few questions for you." I rolled my eyes, but followed her without complaint. She took me into a small room with metal walls. The only things in the room were a metal table and a chair. "Turn out your pockets." She said, and I handed her a pencil, a few rubber bands, the photo of my parents, and a few nuts and bolts, bits of scrap metal, and wire.
I sat in the chair and fiddled with the zipper on my hoodie. Romanoff left the room. The Avengers seemed to trust me. She didn't even lock the door. When she came back, Iron man and the captain were with her.
"Hullo." I said, trying to sound cheerful. They just inclined their heads. "She said you had a few questions?"
"How did you get your powers?" Captain asked, though Iron man looked annoyed like he hadn't wanted the cap to ask that.
"Always had them." I shrugged.
"Anyways, to get to the reason were here." Iron man said pointedly. "Where are your friends hiding?" I tried not to smirk, but couldn't manage it.
"How should I know?" I asked, not forcing happiness for once. This meant that after three days, the Avengers hadn't found them. "We set up a few safehouses of course, then theres a few places we've hidden before, and a few places they would go because they didn't think you'd check there…." I trailed off. A nasty thought had just occurred to me. "Though its almost definitely none of those."
"Why not?" Cap asked, puzzled.
"Because, I know about those places, flag face. And you questioning me about this was inevitable. They would have gone someplace I wouldn't expect. I can't help you."
"Where would they not go?" Romanoff asked. "Where is the last place on earth you would look?"
"Not saying." I smirked. "Then you would look there."
Iron Man leaned down in my face and growled. His breath smelled like beer. "You're going to tell us, alright."
"No, I'm not." I said calmly. "This was fun. Can I go back to my room now? I was eating lunch."
"Kid, we are trying to help." Captain said, pulling Stark back and pushing him into the hall, with many protests. "What are you so afraid of?"
'If only you knew.' I thought, but I didn't say that. "I'm not afraid of anything. Harpy and Scorch can handle whatever orphanage or screwed up foster family you throw them into, and so can I, but BLizzard and Nightshade deserve better then that. So I'm not telling you anything." He just looked at me sadly and didn't say anything.
Something in his eyes made me want to trust him. Something made me want to tell him where they were.
"Promise you won't hurt them." I said quietly. "Promise not to send them back to foster care."
"I promise." He said. I smiled.
"Exactly. I'm not going to tell you that I can think of thirteen places in this city where they might hide. I'm not going to tell you that the orphanage we used to live in on 39th and Pine is the last place I would ever look. And I'm certainly not going to tell you that under the piers would be another place I would never look because Scorch hates getting wet."
Iron man came back into the room, scribbling addresses on a notepad as I talked. A tiny smile spread across Romanoff's face, the first I had seen there.
When I had given them everywhere I could think of, Iron man hurried out and Romanoff left too.
"Can I go with you?" I asked the cap as he turned to go as well. "I want to make sure their safe." He thought about it, then nodded.
"Put your shoes on, and be ready to go in five. I'll meet you back here."
I went back to my room, put on my worn sneakers and found a warmer jacket hanging up for me in the closet. I met the cap back at the interrogation room, and we left together.
"First on our third of the list." Cap said as we drove away from Stark tower, "The abandoned apartment building on 30th."
After a couple of hours, we had had no luck. Cap called the others, and learned that they hadn't found the sirens either. "Last on our list." Cap said wearily. "Under the piers."
The waterfront smelled like salt water and fish. Seagulls circled overhead, and the Statue of Liberty loomed in the harbor. We glanced under each pier, having no luck until we reached 34. I leaned down and immediately knew that the tiny lean-to underneath the pier was where Adana, Sam, Agatha, and Cecily were hiding.
"Their here." I said, standing up again before I was spotted. A knot was forming in my stomach. I had lead our enemies right to their door. They would be mad. I suddenly wished I hadn't eaten so much of that grilled cheese sandwich.
Cap pulled out is phone, and in 15 minutes Iron man and Black widow were there.
"I should go first." I said numbly, staring at my shoes. "They…. They trust me." The others sensed how hard this was for me.
"Its for the best, Carmen." cap said. I nodded and climbed under the pier. I hurried over to the tent.
"You guys in here?" I asked, ducking inside. I was immediately tackle hugged by four people at once.
"How are you?"
"How did you escape?"
"How did you find us?"
The barrage of questions overwhelmed me.
"Come on." I said, disentangling myself. "Theres no time to explain. We have to go." They trusted me. They followed me. I lead them up above, right to the waiting Avengers.
Sam's POV
I couldn't beleive it when Carmen just waltzed up to us like nothing had happened. She looked kind of sweaty and pale, like she might vomit, and wouldn't look me me the eyes. I really should have seen the signs, but silly me I followed her and now I'm in a cell in Stark Tower with Agatha. Adana and Cecily are across from us. Carmen's room in down the hall. There's no lock on her door, unlike ours.
The next time I see her I'm going to punch her in the face.
She sold us out! I can't believe it. I don't want to believe it, but the proof is in the form of a fireproof padlock on my door. She betrayed us. I would have trusted her with my life. And she betrayed us.
Adana's POV
Sam is furious, Agatha is in shock, and Cecily bursts into tears at the slightest thing. I have no idea what to do. I feel like the world is caving in around me, and theres nothing at all I can do about it.
We were there a day before Carmen came to see us. Her brown hair was neatly combed with a little braid down one side, and she wore new clothes, a denim jacket, t-shirt, and jeans.
Iron man was with her. He opened the door to our room, said something quietly to her, and closed the door behind her.
"Hi, Adana." She said cautiously, like trying to decide whether to feed a dog or run from it. "Hi Cecily." Neither of us spoke. Cecily wouldn't even look at her. "I know how this must look to you, but-"
"How this must look? How this must look?" Cecily was practically yelling. "You gave us up, Carmen! You turned us over to our enemies for what? New clothes and a nice room? How could you do this to us?" No, I take it back. Not practically yelling. More like shouting at the top of her lungs.
"No, I-" Carmen made a desperate attempt at an explanation, but Cecily cut her off again.
"I thought we were friends! You were like family to me, and you betrayed us! Stabbed me in the back!" Angry tears started to pour down Cecily's face. Carmen moved to comfort her, but she shoved her away.
"Just go, Carmen." I said, surprised by the cold in my own voice. Cecily hugged me around the waist. "Just go. You've done enough damage." She looked like she wanted to protest, to do something, but she hurried out of the room, turned so that we couldn't see what I expected were tears on her face.
She brushed tears off her face as Stark closed the door behind her. She didn't go into Sam and Agatha's room. She just left, pausing for a second to set a folded piece of notebook paper on the bed.
When Cecily had stopped crying, I unfolded the paper and read a letter in Carmen's familiar hand.
Dear Adana and Cecily,
Please forgive me for what I did. I know that would be easier for you to do if I said sorry, but I'm not sorry I did it. Well, maybe a little. But you have to know I thought that this was the best way, and still do.
Living on the streets isn't the way we should be living. Cecily and Agatha deserve to go to school, Sam should finish high school. Adana, you and I should go to college. We can't do that if every day is a struggle to live.
I know you see these people as you enemies, but they are trying to help us, in ways we sorely need. After living with them for a few days, I know that they wouldn't send us back to Ms. Coopers if we tell them what it was like there.
Sam still looks like she would kill me if I got too close, so please tell her all this from me. Tell Agatha too.
You are all like family to me, and I wish that somehow this could have happened without you getting hurt, but I saw no way of this happening.
I hope that one day you can find it in yourselves to forgive me. Meanwhile, the Avengers are thinking about training us to better control our powers. I haven't told them what mine is yet. I won five impossible bets in a row with Iron Man the other day.
All my love,
Carmen
The Masked Marauder
`That evening, when Carmen came back, I was ready. Cecily and I were seated around a round table that was bolted to the ground, the letter open in front of us. When Stark opened the door and she entered, looking weary and travel-worn, with a defeated, I-need-to-try-one-last-time-before-I-give-up sort of look on her face.
I had planned a session of grilling her on the letter, but Cecily burst into tears again and tackle-hugged Carmen, and my plans of pretending to be angry melted into a puddle of goo on the floor.
"I'm sorry I was mad!" Cecily sobbed. I couldn't help but smirk at the terrified look on Carmen's face, as she patted the younger girl awkwardly on the back. "I thought- I thought-"
"Thats okay." Carmen squeaked, disentangling herself.
The next day the avengers began to train us.
Authors note: please review! this is my first fanfic and I would really appreciate reviews. Next chapter eventually. -F