Quintessence || An Avengers FanFiction

Chapter 7: There Are Always Men Like You

After notifying Nat that the Face Trace had been successful and that the two of them were joining Steve on the mission, Kat sprinted through the maze-like halls of the helicarrier to her quarters.

Knowing it would take too long and wanting to blow off some of the nervous energy that was pent up inside her, she skidded to a stop in a surprisingly empty hallway and shut her eyes, concentrating on the details of her room The gun-metal gray walls and furniture, her little black journal that rested on her desk, filled with training notes. Inside the drawers of the small steel desk lay her textbooks varying from Comparative Government and Politics to Electric and Magnetism Physics, her notes hidden neatly in plain navy binders stacked neatly on her bookshelf. S.H.I.E.L.D guidebooks sit on the bookshelf next to her almost-barren closet. A few training outfits, her regular uniforms, and my formal outfits hang alongside a large garment bag that I have never opened.

Slowly, a numbness spread just beneath her skin as her body begins to shimmer, dematerializing, a rainbow flooding into her irises as she sprinted forward, keeping her focus.

Before long, the prickling sensation died down as she peeled her eyelids back. With the feeling back in her body, her eyes returned to their normal golden brown and she released a tired breath. Using her powers for teleportation always drained her; the amount of effort it took to transform her body into pure energy was exhausting.

Her hands and legs trembled, threatening to buckle as she staggered over to her small closet. Pulling the garment bag out, she carefully laid it on the cot in the corner and unzipped it. Inside was a black sleeveless cat-suit with the Shield logo stitched onto the shoulder, the neck loose with a hood attached.

Slipping her limbs into the suit, noticing how accurate the fit was. Her fingertips graze over the smooth fabric, before slipping her fingerless gloves over her hands, leaving the cowl hanging limp.

Stuffing a few extra tools into her onyx belt and sticking her com-set into her ear, she darted out of her room and up to the top deck; her mind the perfect storm of excitement and nerves.

The only comfort was the statement she repeated under her breath.

"You're ready."

~

In the cover of night, the quinjet silently glides high above the wilderness surrounding the city of Stuttgart. The two agents piloted the metal bird as it sped towards the target, Loki. He had crashed a gala held in the building that guarded a rare element, Iridium, an element that Loki and his newly turned soldiers would kill to get.

As Katrina and Natasha sat in the cockpit, the young girl's nerves turned her usually smiling lips into a tight line; every muscle tense making her knuckles white. And although she tried to hide how terrified she was, she knew Nat could read her like a book.

"You okay?" Nat asked, the concern evident in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The girl rushed out, cringing at her obviousness. She could hear her own fear and insecurities that she was trying desperately to shove down seeping through the cracks in her voice.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Fury is."

"That wasn't the question, Kat."

"Approaching target in thirty seconds. Get ready, Cap." Katrina announced, flipping a few switches, avoiding Nat's questions before darting to the back to prepare, leaving Natasha to pilot on her own.

The woman's gaze burned the back of her skull as she sighed and turned back to the night sky, flipping the switch to open the hatch.

"Alright, Loki is at the gala, he's got civilians cornered in the streets. Be careful you two!" Natasha called over her shoulder.