'Twins' - Alternate MCU - ON HOLD

32. Taskmaster

Natasha

That night, we were in the trailer doing various different things. I was eating instant noodles whilst watching a movie on my laptop. Elise and Lexa were in their bedroom doing god knows what.

That was until all the lights went off.

"Fucking hell," I muttered to myself quietly with a sigh.

"What happened?" Elise asked, poking her head around her bedroom door.

"The generator crapped out," I replied, putting my noodles down and getting up.

I went outside and tried to turn the generator back on. It wouldn't start, so I checked the engine and noticed that it had no fuel left.

"God damn you Mason," I cursed quietly under my breath.

I went back into the trailer, calling, "Girls I'm going out to get more fuel!"

"Okay!" came Lexa's reply.

As I drove with my empty fuel bottle in the back seat, I wondered how the twins were so quickly comfortable being left alone. I guess it might've been because they were so remote and not actually close to anywhere. I slowed down at a corner, then turned onto a bridge. Suddenly, an explosion sent the car flying through the air. I saw an orange blaze as the car flew through the air.

Then everything went black.

I groaned as I opened my eyes. My head throbbed and I heard creaking. I turned and looked out the window as I realised the car was perilously close to falling over the edge of the bridge into the freezing Norwegian lake below. Someone was approaching me however. They had a suit on and a mask to cover their face. I - panicking inside - reached to take off my seatbelt and climbed into the back seat, my gun gripped in my hand. The car lurched forward and I gritted my teeth, terrified and pissed off.

"I'm pretty sure Ross has no jurisdiction here!" I snapped through my clenched jaw.

I managed to adjust myself so I could shoot out of the smashed back window and not tip the car and me over the edge.

"And you should know I have a better shot when I'm pissed off," I continued.

I lifted my gun and shot at the figure a few times. They held up a shield - not unlike Steve's - and the bullets fell to the ground. I tried pulling the trigger again, but my gun only had a few bullets left and I'd used them. I grabbed another cartridge and loaded it into the gun. I aimed, but quickly ducked as the figure threw the shield. It lodged itself in the window frame. I looked up and saw the back window of the car was smashed, so I clambered out, trying desperately to ignore the creaking of the car as it threatened to fall. I crouched down on the floor and held my gun out at the place where the figure had been - but they were gone. Slowly, I turned my head backwards. Mistake. The figure leapt off the car from next to me. I shot at them but the shield blocked the bullets as they landed.

The figure kicked the gun out of my hand and we began fighting. As soon as I started I was struggling to get the upper hand. I found myself lifted up into the air a couple of times until I managed to knock the figure down and myself with them. I looked into the mask. The eyepiece was doing something, I could tell. As I sat up, the figure sat up the same too. I used my back in a sort of worm type technique and jumped to my feet. My opponent did the same. They seemed to be doing the same thing as I was.

The exact same thing.

Slowly, they turned their head and I followed their gaze to a box that was laid on the floor not too far from us. Realising, I murmured, "You're not here for me."

I knew something was off about this whole situation, and my instincts screamed at me to not let that person get that case. I pulled out my knife and ran towards them. Just as I reached them, they spun around and began to fight again. For a moment, I had the upper hand, slashing at every available opportunity. Suddenly however, they grabbed my head and held it against the ground, knocking me off of my feet. I managed - barely - to lift myself up, but the figure punched my stomach, throwing me to the other side of the bridge. I lay gasping for breath for a moment, then got back up. My opponent immediately turned and attacked me again, attempting to kick me back further. I flew back to the ground, and as they turned to walk towards the black case, I grabbed my only widow's line. I fired it and wrapped it around my opponent's ankles, before firing it upwards to a bar across the top of the bridge structure. As the figure stepped forward again to grab the case, the line pulled them back, swinging them into the air. They were however swift to respond, pulling out a blade and cutting the wire. This allowed me just enough time to get to the case and open it, grabbing whatever was inside.

I grabbed the case as my opponent landed and came towards me. We had a brief fight. They kicked me. Hard. Before I knew what was happening, I was plummeting down into the freezing cold lake. I plunged in with a splash.

I pushed my head up again as I reached the shore, body numb and using all the energy I had to keep me from getting frostbite. I waded to the shore in the waist deep water, and clambered onto a rock. Laid on the rock, I let myself breathe properly for a minute, before I sat back up and looked at what exactly was in the case. There were about 20 glowing vials of some red gas, all wrapped together. I noticed a piece of paper in the middle, and pulled it out. I recognised it. I recognised the picture reel.

"She's alive," I murmured to myself. "Holy shit."