Make You Feel My Love
~Book III~
Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.
~Chapter 7~
Language
The Quinjet landed a little way away from the base. They expected a heavier defense from the Hydra base in Sokovia than what they had gotten back in Germany. Mostly because the scepter was possibly there and seeing as Hydra most likely wanted to keep it, it wouldn't be easy to get to it.
All of them exited the Quinjet, all except for Bruce who stayed behind until he knew the 'other guy' was needed.
"Okay, you all know what to do," said Steve, hopping onto his bike and turning the engines on.
He exchanged a look with Maria who nodded, walking over to Clint and Natasha. "Distract the guards while Tony goes for the base. Yup, got it."
"Myself and Thor will take the eastern side. Nat, Maria and Clint, take the western side. Stark, stay airborne and do your thing," said Steve, repeating the orders once more just in case before he nodded his head, revving the engine of his bike. "Good luck."
And with that said, they were all off. Maria stayed close to her current partners, running alongside of Clint while Natasha ran ahead of them, seeming much faster than either of them.
"I'm getting too old for this," said Clint between breaths as they continued to run through the snow-covered forest.
Maria looked at him, smirking at the non-amused look on Clint's face. She didn't reply though, as they both saw Natasha come to a halt in front of them, taking cover behind a tree. Clint and Maria both stopped running, crouching down as they slowly and quietly moved over to where Natasha was standing, taking cover behind nearby trees.
"Western side; at least thirty men. Two bunkers. Lots of trucks and two towers," said Natasha through the com-link, Maria and Clint peeking out from behind their trees to look at the scene before them.
A sigh escaped Maria's lips. To say that this was more defense than the previous base was an understatement. The three of them would have to truly fight past their potential to take them all out. Thirty soldiers were standing on their own, talking and guarding the western side of the forest surrounding the facility. More soldiers were on the trucks, in the bunkers and on the towers.
"Eastern side is less protected. I'll take them out. Thor, head to Maria's side. Help them," said Steve through the com-link.
"Is this a code green, guys?"
"I'm pretty sure it is," replied Maria.
"Yes. Code green is go," agreed Steve.
Clint and Natasha looked over at Maria, seeming to wait for orders much to Maria's surprise.
"See that truck over there?" asked Maria, gesturing towards the truck close by them. "Let's take it."
Quickly and without being noticed by anyone, Natasha and Maria made their way through the bushes towards said truck. It had three soldiers on it, all talking in their own language, sometimes laughing at something they had said. Looking at each other, the two women nodded their heads before jumping up onto the truck, taking out one soldier each by hitting them unconscious and throwing them over the side. The last soldier looked at them in shock, starting to, clumsily, reach for his gun to which Maria scoffed before forcing her sword through his chest, the hologram breaking his ribs at the impact before he fell over the edge too.
The sound of bullets was heard and the two women crouched down to take cover.
"Clint!" called Maria through the com-link and soon, Clint had joined them on the truck. "I'll drive."
With Clint and Natasha covering her with bullets and arrows, she made her way to the front, starting the engine before beginning to drive off towards the rest of their defense, meaning the two towers and the bunkers.
Her sword was placed on the seat beside her and so, whenever a bullet was close to hitting her, she could only duck slightly, hoping the others had her back enough for her to not be hit. It wouldn't make a big difference to her if she was hit, but it still hurt of course.
"We've got company!" called Natasha, causing Maria to look through the rearview mirror.
Another truck was following them, the second truck which they hadn't taken out yet. She sighed as it had a weapon attached to it along with a lot of soldiers shooting at them. She steered their truck so that none of the truck's shots hit them, though it was difficult. It became even more difficult when some of the soldiers lifted off of the truck and started to fly towards them.
"The hell!?" exclaimed Clint, shooting arrows at those soldiers.
As much as they tried to make them stay away from them, two soldiers made its way towards the heroes. One attacking Natasha and Clint at the back, and one attacking Maria. Her heart beat fast as she tried her best to punch the soldier while at the same time avoiding to be hit by the other truck. Much to her dismay, the soldier grabbed onto her arm with one hand before placing one hand on the back of her head, grabbing a piece of hair and tugging it enough for her to let out a cry of pain.
She was in a dilemma now. If she let go of the steering wheel, she wouldn't be able to steer the truck anymore and potentially causing the death of Clint and Natasha. Though if she did, she'd be able to grab her sword and get rid of the soldier holding onto her. As she glanced at the man, her eyes widened at the sight of Chitauri armor.
When the man pushed her head forwards, making her forehead hit the steering wheel and causing her sight to disappear for a few seconds, a beam of light hit the soldier, causing him to let go of Maria and fall to the ground before being hit by the truck that was following them. Maria sighed, grabbing onto the steering wheel again before looking up, seeing Tony flying above her. She saluted him, thanking him silently before he flew off, heading towards the tower close by, beginning to shoot at the soldiers there.
The turret stopped shooting at them as Thor appeared breaking it in two with his hammer before throwing Mjölnir at the soldier still attacking Natasha and Clint, ridding them of the man. He flew off towards the tower Tony was attacking, placing himself on the tower itself and using his hammer to throw each and every soldier down to the ground, which was several feet up in the air. The fall rendered them all unconscious, if Thor's hammer hadn't already managed that.
Had neither of them done that, Maria, Natasha and Clint would've been in a pickle seeing as they wouldn't have had a clear shot at the soldiers shooting down at them. More soldiers wearing Chitauri armor appeared which Thor and Tony quickly got rid of. Maria steered the truck past the tower, letting Thor deal with the remaining soldiers on the ground too, as she made her way towards the upcoming bunker.
A familiar sound was heard behind her and as she looked through the now cracked rearview mirror, she saw Steve heading their way on his motorcycle, skillfully taking out soldiers and she smiled slightly.
As another truck appeared in front of Steve, Thor jumped down on its front, causing it to flip over before it could hurt Steve in any way with its weapons. The truck was caught by the Hulk who only just had appeared. He held it up above his head with ease, breaking it in two before throwing it away and continuing to take out soldiers coming at the truck all wearing Chitauri armor alongside of Steve, Thor and Tony.
The bunker ahead of them was surrounded by a heap off dirt along with a fence made out of barbed wire. Maria skillfully pressed the break on the truck while steering fully to the left, causing the car to flip over the barbed wire while at the same time giving Nat, Clint and Maria a boost to jump over the barbed wire. Right before Maria did jump out of the car, she grabbed her sword, holding it in front of her as she gracefully flew over the barbed wire. Steve used his bike to jump over the barbed wire with ease while Tony, Thor and the Hulk had no problems getting over the fence. The soldiers standing there shot a few bullets at them before turning around and beginning to run away, though no one let them, attacking them while Tony flew ahead of them, sending a shot at the bunker which caused it to explode.
"Guys!" called Maria as she hit the soldier close to her over the head. "I don't know if you've noticed-" another man appeared in front of her, shouting something she didn't understand before she thrust her sword into his stomach, the pain of it rendering him unconscious. "But they've got Chitauri armor!"
"Yup. Noticed!" called Clint through the com-link.
"Where'd they get it?" asked Maria.
"I'm about to find out. I've got vision on the facility!" said Tony before a groan was heard coming from him. "Shit!"
"Language," called Steve through the com-link. "Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?"
"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield," said Jarvis. "Strucker's technology is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken."
"Loki's scepter must be here," said Thor from where he was fighting soldiers. "Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it. At long last."
From behind Maria, a soldier shot a beam of light at her, causing her to fall to the ground, her face hitting the snow that covered it. Natasha saw this and immediately took down the soldier, electrifying him through the parts that weren't covered in Chitauri armor before she helped Maria up from the ground.
"'At long last' is lasting a little long, boys," replied Natasha, holding onto Maria's arm as she let her wound heal, the assassin shooting whatever soldier was still there, covering Maria.
"Yeah, I think we lost the element of surprise," replied Clint from where he was fighting off incoming soldiers, looking back at Maria and Natasha.
A cold shiver ran down Maria's back as she let out a sigh of relief, nodding her head at Natasha who let go of her before running over to the incoming soldiers. Maria straightened her back, feeling the torn fabric brushing against her skin and knowing that she most likely needed a new suit after this mission. Not only was there now a hole by her shoulder from where Clint had shot her earlier, but the back was completely torn open now.
Grabbing her sword once more, she joined Natasha where she was fighting soldiers, jumping up on the back of one, skillfully wrapping her legs around his torso before letting her weight pull him down to the ground where she cut her sword through him, rendering him unconscious.
"Wait a second, no one else is gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?" asked Tony, earning a scoff from Maria before she attacked the next soldier.
"I know… Just slipped out."
"Clint, bunker," said Maria, gesturing towards said bunker which was shooting at them.
He nodded his head before disappearing through the trees, leaving Natasha and Maria to deal with the remaining soldiers. They were fifteen of them and luckily, none of them had any Chitauri armor on. Three of them were closing in on Maria, the others shooting bullets at her which she just about managed to dodge with her sword, a new skill she didn't know where she'd gotten. Turning on her left glove, she jumped up against the tree, staying hanging there for a while before boosting off of it and landing on three of the soldiers. She gracefully managed to roll over and end up on her feet again right after she landed on the three soldiers, before continuing the fight.
"Clint!" exclaimed Natasha, causing Maria to tense up, hearing the distress in the assassin's voice.
Quickly, she took out the last soldier that had been attacking them before making her way towards Clint and Natasha, seeing Clint down on the ground, groaning in pain, with Natasha crouched down next to him. The bunker was still firing at them, so Maria couldn't make her way over to them.
"We have an enhanced in the field!" said Steve through the com-link.
"Clint's hit," said Natasha.
Maria clenched her teeth in annoyance as the bunker kept shooting her way, making it impossible for her to check on Clint.
"Somebody wanna deal with that bunker!?" exclaimed Maria, irritated.
Almost immediately, the Hulk's roar echoed through the forest as he appeared by the bunker, doing just as Maria had asked and dealing with the bunker by running straight through it. He looked over at her briefly, her nodding her head at him, before he continued to take out the remaining soldiers while Maria ran towards Clint and Natasha.
"Clint…" breathed Maria, crouching down next to him while Natasha injected some painkillers into his system. "You always carry that around?"
"You never know when you're gonna need it," said Natasha, winking at Maria before taking out some bandages from her utility belt, pressing them against Clint's wound.
"That looks nasty," said Maria, hissing slightly to which Clint rolled his eyes.
"That your professional conclusion?" asked Clint through gritted teeth, earning a roll of Maria's eyes in return.
Pain burst through Maria's arm suddenly, causing her to cry out in pain before she turned around, seeing multiple soldiers advancing on their location.
"Get him back to the Quinjet," said Maria, fiddling with her wound in order to take out the bullet that was still stuck there. "I'll cover you."
Grabbing one of Natasha's guns, leaving the other for her to use in defense, Maria stood up while turning around, beginning to shoot at the soldier's feet, causing them to take cover. From behind her, Natasha flung Clint's arm around her shoulders before helping him off, the two of them jogging away from the scene as best as they could. With her left hand shooting at the soldiers and her right hand dodging any bullets that came her way, Maria advanced on the soldiers. Luckily, Steve and Thor soon joined her and together, the three of them were fast in taking them all out.
"The drawbridge is down, people," said Tony through the com link as Maria, Steve and Thor all walked over to each other.
"The enhanced?" asked Thor, looking at Steve.
"He's a blur," said Steve. "All the new players we've faced, I've never seen this. In fact, I still haven't."
"How's Clint doing?" asked Maria through the com-link.
"He's hurt pretty bad. I've got him back at the Quinjet now," replied Natasha. "But he's gonna need evac and… there's more coming our way."
"I can get back to Barton, keep them safe. You, lady Maria and Stark secure the scepter," said Thor, glancing between Maria and Steve who both nodded their heads.
"Copy that," said Steve, agreeing to the plan.
"More idiots on the way," sighed Maria, looking at something behind Steve and Thor.
The two men turned around, seeing a couple more soldiers heading their way. Thor smirked; "Looks like they're lining up."
"Well," sighed Steve as he prepped his shield onto his arm. "They're excited."
Maria placed her hands over her ears as she watched Thor hit Steve's shield with his hammer, a wave of electricity hitting the incoming soldiers, knocking them all down to the ground. She smiled at the success, mostly happy she didn't have to fight anymore seeing as she was getting tired.
"Find the scepter," said Thor before heading off towards the Quinjet.
"And for gosh sake, watch your language!" exclaimed Tony through the com-link with sarcasm dripping down his words.
Maria smiled widely at the amused yet tired look on Steve's face as he shook his head at Tony's comment.
"That's not going away any time soon…" sighed Steve, earning a chuckle from Maria.
"Nope," she replied.
Sorry about the lack of updates last week-end. Had too much homework to be able to work on anything :( But, I'll update tomorrow again to make up for it :) This chapter was a lot of action but I promise, you'll get some sweet Maria/Steve moments tomorrow along with some exciting revelations! :D in the meantime, don't be afraid to comment. I appreciate all comments even though I can't reply to them seeing as they're usually guests (Hi, by the way!). Truly, I appreciate it a lot :)