Disregard my last AN because I'm finishing this chapter while watching Black Widow.

Chapter 214: Pins & Knees Part Four

Electric Shades of Green

"Oh well," Sigyn says casually before brushing her hands on her uniform, "now that he's gone. He could've honestly chewed you out later. Look, do you need me to do something for that?"

Before James could respond, if he was going to since he wasn't sure what to do nor what she could do, debris hits their quinjet and it skitters. She grabs the controls and looks over, seeing that Xavier and The Hulk need help down there with the ongoing extremist and helicarrier rain.

She can't leave James alone on the quinjet so she waves a hand over her body and her duplicate watches over him as she disappears to the helicarrier below.

She lands beside Xavier as he holds the shield against someone and punches it, sending them overboard. The Hulk slams his fists on the pavement, cracking it across. Sigyn holds someone in place with her magic. She bends all the way back, shooting them above her.

Her favourite move, if anyone bothered asking.

"You gave me crap and left James alone?" Xavier yells at her.

Sigyn shrugs one shoulder with a teasing grin. "I'm here and there, don't worry, dear."

-o-

Half a Present Blonde

Merida quickly docks her quinjet on top of Sigyn before jumping down to hers. She lands on the balls of her feet just in time to see Sigyn waving at her and vanishing. She shivers, creeped out at the concept of a sentient duplicate. One Sigyn was bad enough but now she can have endless copies. Nightmare fuel.

But Merida kneels beside James to check his knee. The colour isn't normal but at least it's not spreading to the rest of his leg. All of it's just coagulating around his kneecap, where Merida remembers was broken way back when Daniel and his Hulk had gone their separate ways for a minute. She remembers her ribs breaking and her father sitting beside her on the couch telling stories of his days in the circus. Fun times.

"James, you're still alive, right?" Merida asks. Her tone's light to cover her shaking voice.

"I think," he responds softly.

Merida smirks. "Get ready for another shitshow."

"Let's go."

James reaches into his pockets and pulls out some Pym discs for her. She attaches them to her arrows so their little tricks could be amplified or diminished. Merida opens the dock door and perches on the opening to fire at the debris and shrink it. Merida stands back and waves at Apollo who flies nearby and blasts debris with lightning to help.

"I'll make you a splint," Merida says, returning to James and kneeling beside him.

"Girl Scout Barton," James says with a pained smile. "You got a splint badge in your quiver?"

"Fuck off."

She's grinning too, pulling out some arrows and using James' cut uniform and spare bowstring. This is more so for sprained ankles but it's the best Merida could do. Even James holds everything in place for her to tie and secure into place.

"Does it hurt to sit?" Merida asks as she supports his back.

"A bit," he responds.

"I should just get you out of here."

"We're good. I'll be fine."

"You fucking better be or else."

James laughs a little. "Not as mean as Xavier but the sentiment is appreciated."

-o-

Electric Blonde

Angela ended up with a stowaway as she was flying on her jetpack. She couldn't tell you where he came from but only that he, probably literally, appeared out of thin air.

It's the closest form of close combat, a competition of experience and surrounding elements more so than brute strength and weapons. It won't matter if she throws him off with their jetpack because she'll fall to her doom.

So instead she's wrestling guns and knives, simple Academy sparring. Guns and knives, tasers and garrottes coming out in full force and being flung overboard.

She's turned off her jetpack to let gravity help her. Angela grabs him and kicks off his chest when a giant piece of pavement falling above them blows with lightning. She rolls backwards, crashing through windows of the former helicarrier panels, turning on her jetpack again to gain traction before flying back up.

-o-

United Shades of Half a Present Romance

Iqadi shakes her head, dazed from nearly blowing up and flying off an exploding helicarrier. She tries to reconfigure where she is but it's the same everywhere she looks. Just a catastrophe raining from the sky.

She turns her head and sees the Hulk gliding down a reflective plane before catching her in his arms. They're spinning around with pipes and wires. Iqadi grasps the wind in her hands and feels her eyes shift as the current picks up in her control.

Iqadi cups her hands and raises them to the best while pressed against the Hulk. The winds build and circle them, making them spin alongside the path of her cyclone to keep everything contained.

She laughs as she shoots them back up.

-o-

United Shades of Green

Sigyn and Xavier stand on the edge of their helicarrier, watching everything fall below them. They try to find the rest of their team in the mess.

Merida: I'm with James. Made him a splint. Where are the rest of you?

"Where's Stark?" Sigyn asks Xavier and into her earpiece.

Before anyone could answer, the cyclone hits them from above and they stumble. Xavier looks ahead and spots Angela flying so he whips the shield her way before he and Sigyn start their descent.

He can't help but laugh when she screams like a rollercoaster ride is starting.

-o-

Electric Blonde

Angela catches the shield and holds on to the handles after she turns off her jetpack. She won't waste fuel because her jetpack will break in the cyclone so she holds the shield above her head and glides through the air within the cyclone.

Suddenly, she's pulled in backwards and sticks onto something. Angela looks up and sees Emily flying above her.

Emily: Magnets. Love basic science.

"Where the hell were you?" Angela asks.

Emily: I'm actually back on the quinjet tending to James. He's fine, by the way. Still here with Merida's splint. You're riding with The Matriarch. Did you hit your head?

Angela laughs a bit. "I nearly got a monitor smashed into my face back on the helicarrier. Does that count?"

Emily: Hold on.

-o-

United Shades of an Electric Present Romance

Emily is adjusting the makeshift splint on James's leg as he mans the quinjet which is harder against the cyclone and pain. Merida has secured herself to the quinjet's interior with the grappling hook on her uniform's belt. Their quinjet hatch is still open so she could find the others and they could find the rest of them.

"We need to close the hatch or we're all flying out!" James screams.

"We have the rest of the team to fish out of the sky!" Merida yells back, her curls flying behind her head so fast they look straight.

"We won't have a way home," Emily says.

Merida pauses. Wait, when was she in charge here? "Fine." She looks out and sees something coming her way. "Incoming!"

Merida ducks, throwing herself to the side. The Hulk and Iqadi tumble in. Emily leaps out of her seat as James shrinks since those two nearly crashed into the controls. The quinjet jolts forwards in a position to nosedive because of the sudden hit and the continued winds. Their hatch door snaps off.

Merida flails and cuts the rope holding her like an umbilical cord. She lands on the Hulk's back near the front of the quinjet. Merida bites off the end of a putty arrowhead and whips it down when it starts expanding. The Hulk grabs Emily and James as they tumble around their quinjet. Merida holds on to a rail above her as the putty blocks off the opening and hardens immediately to hold them all in.

Iqadi slides into the pilot's seat and grabs the controls. Her eyes whiten as she tries to control the plane and the cyclone all while a mess of debris still rains on them.

"Hold on!" Iqadi screams as they fly into the centre of the storm.

For reasons TBD when the time comes, the next chapter (and final chapter of this ARC and the weekly updates) will be next Saturday instead of Friday.