Ablaze {Marvel} ||2||

27. The Pentagon

At gunfire, I ran for it without a second thought.

As I rounded a corner, I pulled myself back in order to avoid stray bullets. I peeked around to see two professionally dressed humans firing at an enhanced person a few feet away from me. I charged behind them, taking the person out from behind. I crushed us both to the floor, and we wrestled. It wasn't Ethan, Kasey, or Seth, but they still weren't friendly. Her lips pulled back over her teeth, and she had a fiery hand about to plunge for my heart.

I started when I got sprayed with bits of her blood. She keeled over backwards, landing as a thump on the tile flooring. I got on my elbows.

"Stay on the floor! Hands on your head!" barked a voice.

"Hey, hey!" I shouted. "I'm on your side! Did you not just see that?!" I rolled onto my stomach as the two humans moved in. They allowed me to get on my knees. "Listen to me, I'm part of the Avengers. You might know me as the Girl on Fire or Ember or whatever people are calling me these days. I'm Cynder, if that rings a bell for you." The two didn't seem to believe my story. "I'm on your side!"

"She's not wrong," said a familiar voice.

"Widow!" I said, using Natasha's Avenger name. Although, I was sure the Pentagon knew who she really was. I still wanted to try and keep it a secret.

Natasha, dressed in her getup, moved in between the two humans. I scrambled to my feet.

"You sure?" asked the one. I gave them a hard glance. "You came back to kill us just because you didn't finish us off the last time!"

At this, Natasha was the one who gave them a strange look. "What did you say?"

"She came through earlier, before you got here," said the second person in a warbling voice. "She...she lit the hall up. Fried good people. She had someone with her."

"Was he a big guy?" I asked suddenly. "Looked like he belonged in prison?"

"He could do that thing with fire too."

Tasha and I exchanged looks. "Where'd they go?" I demanded to know. Now I understood why Kasey and I traded outfits. Somehow, she found a way to transform herself to look like me. She must've done a pretty good job too. Maybe S.H.I.E.L.D. had something that can do that.

One of the two Pentagon personnel flicked a thumb behind them. "Down that way. They looked like they wanted to stir things up. Never asked for directions."

"Where's Cap at?" I asked Tasha.

"Captain America?" one person repeated. "He came barreling down, asking where you were." They nodded towards me.

He's in trouble, I told Tasha. That's Kasey and her partner, Ethan. I've got to find them.

We've got to find them, you mean, Tasha corrected me. You could always use an extra body.

I smiled ruefully at her before looking at the Pentagon workers. "If anyone who can do this"—I pulled up a small flame in my hand (Tasha's eyes widened)—"comes your way and looks like none of us, shoot them." I nodded to Tasha. "Come on."

The workers moved aside as we blindly made our way through the inside of the Pentagon.

"You have your powers back?" Tasha croaked once we were out of earshot.

"Weird timing, right?" I said. "They're not at full power, though."

"We'll take what we can get."