AN: hi, I don't own the Avengers. to irrationalbookworm: not sure what you mean. fight each other, or fight a super villain? or both? They fight a super villain in this one, so I hope thats whatcha wanted.

-F

Adana's POV

From the rooftop, I could see everything in the city. Dozens of stories below me, tiny ant people rushed around, living their lives. Up here, I felt like I ruled the world. Nothing could hold me down. On the ground, or inside, I always felt like a bird in a cage. Running forward, I jumped off the roof of Stark Tower, free falling towards the pavement. As floors whipped past me, I approached the ground faster and faster.

Ten floors up, I extended my wings out to their full reach. As they caught the wind, I slowed. Slowing up, I flapped and, arching my back, I swerved upwards and was soaring up again. Landing on the roof again, I saw that Stark was waiting for me.

"Hiya, birdie." I scowled at him.

"My name is Harpy. And if you don't call me that then I'm Adana, got it?"

"Sure, birdie. Now c'mon, we gotta go."

Instead of snapping at him for the birdie comment, I just rolled my eyes. He was really immature. "Where are we going then?"

"Some quack named 'Volcano' has some hostages at a bank downtown. Some sort of lava powers. Apparently the police are still having trouble finishing him, so we have to head over."

"Kay." We took the stairs off the roof. I felt like I was suffocating as he closed the door behind us. Trampling down the stairs, we joined the others in the kitchen, all dressed for combat. All except for Carmen, who had on camouflage cargo pants, black t-shirt and denim jacket. At my questioning look, she explained.

"Uniform still in the wash. Yogurt incident." She glared daggers at Stark, who pretended not to notice.

"We probably should get going now." Steve said, strapping his shield to his back.

We drove about twenty blocks to a large bank with a dozen police cars parked out

front.

"Okay, I think it's best if we split into groups. Natasha, you and Marauder distract Volcano. Scorch and Harpy can get him from behind. But first, Blizzard and Nightshade can get the hostages to safety, and Stark and I will- wait, where is Stark?" We all glanced around. He was gone.

"I think he said something about a Shawarma shop down the street." Cecily raised her

hand.

Captain rolled his eyes and sighed. "I'll go get him. You guys can handle this without us." He jogged off down the street.

"Well!" Sam clapped her hands, bringing us back to Earth. "Lets go kick a Volcanoes ass."

We split up. Carmen and Romanoff went straight up to the front doors, the distraction. Neither of them looked very happy about this, for very different reasons I suspected, but they did without complaint. Agatha and Cecily slipped around back. Cecily would send a rose when they had found a way in. Until then, Carmen and Romanoff would stall. We didn't want to (Sam and I didn't want to) attack until the hostages were out of the building.

Carmen's POV

Pushing open the glass doors of the bank, Romanoff and I entered making as much noise as to attract attention but not seem suspiciously like we were trying to attract attention. It was kinda hard.

"Hoy! Come out! We're with the police. We want to talk." I yelled.

Standing in the door to the bank vault was a shortish man with a scruff of white blond hair and bushy eyebrows sticking up from under lab goggles. He wore a scarlet lab coat with gold buttons and dark brown boots with flames embroidered on them. 'Way overkill.' I thought.

"Yes! The police! Have you come to hear my demands?"

I could see about twenty people tied up in the vault behind him. There was no way into the vault but the door. Crap.

"Change of plan." Romanoff whispered. "We have to stick to attack. There's no other way." I nodded solemnly, and we charged.

Sam's POV

When I saw them attack, I knew what I had to do. They immediately realized they couldn't face this guy.

"What are you-" Adana started to ask, but I was already up the steps and throwing open the door. I ran inside, Harpy on my heels. I watched in horror as Volcano held up his palms, and lava spread across the floor of the room. Carmen climbed onto a metal filing cabinet, and was then trapped in an ocean of lava. Romanoff was more lucky, out of the way of the lava.

But something was… wrong with Carmen. She stood stock still, eyes glazed and vacant. As I watched, she sat jerkily down, and held up her hands, palms up, just like Volcano did. Then she turned towards me, and my heart stopped.

Her eyes were pure black orbs.

I screamed.

Adana's POV

As soon as Sam screamed, I realized what it was. Carmen was…. weird. Black eyes, pale and sweaty, and she had no shadow.

"Get Volcano!" I yelled to her. "I'll grab Carmen!" Lucky the bank had a high ceiling. Flapping my wings awkwardly, I rose about a foot over the lava and sped towards Carmen.

When I got close enough, I grabbed her arms, and lifted her with me.

She fought and kicked mercilessly, and it was a struggle not to drop her. I landed with a thud on the floor, still battling her. As her feet touched the floor, she looked stunned. Then her eyes rolled up in her head, and she collapsed.

"What the-"

"LITTLE HELP!?" Sam hollered from where she was standing knee-deep in lava. It didn't seem to hurt her, but she was having trouble fighting Volcano. I flapped my wings again, and lifted off once more. The heat was getting intense, and I felt the bottoms of my feet blister as I got closer to the lava then I should have. The heat waves coming off Volcano were just as hot, and I couldn't get close.

Sam was on her own.

"Hey!" I turned to see Iron Man arrive with a scowling Captain America, BLizzard and Nightshade behind them. I flew toward them.

Landing in front of them, I quickly relayed the situation. "Carmen is down, but she was, like, being possessed anyways, Romanoff is stranded on the desk in the corner, and Sam is in battle with Volcano. I can't get close. We have to-"

The Captain raised his hand, and threw his shield. It hit Volcano in the head, and knocked him out.

"Oh. Or we could do that."

We spent another half hour dragging Volcano to jail, and freeing his captives. We drove back to the tower, with Carmen wrapped in blankets in the backseat, shivering and snoring.

"Describe it again." Stark said. He was very interested in Carmen's odd symptoms before her collapse.

"Her eyes were all black, and pale, and she had no shadow. She didn't recognize me, and she was in the same position as Volcano."

"Yeah." Sam broke in. "His eyes were like hers, all black."

"Huh." Stark said, chewing his Shawarma thoughtfully. "I wonder…." he glanced at the cap, as if asking permission to say something. The cap nodded solemnly. "Well, a long time ago, there was a villain named the Red Skull."

"We know. He was a nazi scientist."

"He wasn't the only one. His right hand man, Dr. Vorgazin, was testing similar procedures, to make super soldiers. With him too, the serum went wrong, but instead of the whole redhead thing, he was given the ability to…." He said the next part in a rush, as if it would be more pleasant if he said it fast. "Control people by stealing their shadows. His name was Shade. I think that's what happened to the kid."

"Her shadows back now. Does that mean she'll been normal when she wakes up?" Sam asked nervously, but my mind was still spinning.

"Why would he control Carmen? What could he gain?"

"Not sure." Romanoff spoke. "But it couldn't have been good. However what Samantha said about Volcano is the most worrying to me. I think Shade was controlling him, just to see us in action for some reason." She bit her lip. "And whatever that reason was, it couldn't have been good."