Nat's POV
"See you all tomorrow at 6am!" I called as I exited the training room and wiped the sweat off my brow. Our entire team was improving so much over the last few days, as an individual and a team.
The camping trip had been a blast, fishing, kayaking, swimming, and campfires just to name a few activities we did. The highlight for me though, was waking up in Steve's arms for the two nights that were were there for.
Whether I liked to admit it or not, there was something about him that made me feel safe, respected and overall just amazing. The Red Room had taught me not to feel anything, but somehow Steve just made me want to break that rule, every single day that I am with him.
I know it is wrong, but I can't help but think about him all the time and it is bugging me. This isn't how it's supposed to be, is it?
I pushed that thought aside and headed into my apartment. We had our first mission tomorrow and I think that between the camping trip and numerous team training sessions, we have grown strong and will now be able to work so much better during missions.
I guess tomorrow will reflect how well our teambuilding week has gone. I just hope we do better than our previous missions. Last time was far to close of a call for my liking.
Steve's POV *Time skip to the next morning*
I left my apartment hastily and headed towards the elevator. I was once again in my trademark Captain America suit and was ready for the mission ahead.
Our training sessions as a group had really helped everyone and I was excited for the mission today. As far as I am concerned, this mission should be an easy one and the flight will only take half an hour at most.
When I got to the top I saw all of the team in a circle surrounding Fury except for Tony, who was probably going to arrive spectacularly any second.
As if on cue, I heard the roar of his jet repulsors as he landed beside us and exited his suit. I rolled my eyes at his entrance and directed my attention back to the group.
I nodded to Fury and he started handing around the mission files. This time, we have to rescue hostages from a gang base not far from here and apprehend those responsible. Easy enough, although the thought of hostages was enough to make my stomach lurch.
The last time I rescued hostages, I was in the army 70 years ago. I tried to push the horrible memories that invaded my head out and returned my facial expressions to the stoic, calm one that it had been moments ago.
"Get your asses on that jet!" Fury finished and we all promptly got onto the jet. Clint took the piloting duties this time and the rest of us took seats towards the back of the plane.
On the way there we formulated a plan to get the hostages out safely and persecute all involved, preferably without nearly getting blown up this time.
......
The bump us the jet made contact with the ground was the signal for us to get up and exit. Unfortunately, there was no secluded place to land the jet within 2 kilometres of the base, so we landed just near it, and the base was immediately alerted of our presence.
The second we stepped out of the jet, we were put under intense fire. We all rushed out and made our way as quickly as possible towards the base, whilst dodging the enemy attacks.
Tony was busy disarming all of the large machine guns and canons whilst the rest of us were disarming all of the guards on the ground. I was fighting easily 10 guards at once as they were all firing at me.
I got knocked to the ground by one of them, and I braced myself for the bullets that I was about to endure. I heard multiple shots go off and when I looked up, I realised that Nat had already shot all ten guards that were surrounding me, allowing for me to get up. I scrambled to my feet and immediately threw my shield at a few that were creeping up behind Clint.
He looked up at me gratefully and shot a few more arrows towards the oncoming men guards. Right then, a bomb went off which sent guards flying all over the place. I looked over to see Tony had fired it to create a clear path to the entrance of the building.
"Right, everyone towards that opening!" I yelled through the comms and we all made our way quickly towards the entrance, taking out anyone in our way.
We ran through the gaping hole that the bomb had left in the building and quickly scanned the inside of the base.
"There are dozens of heat signatures 2 floors below in the basement and a few in the floor above towards the west wing!" Tony called as he used his suit to scan the building. I nodded, as Clint and I took off in the direction of the closest stairs downwards towards the hostages.
Nat and Tony went the opposite way upwards towards what I hoped was the leaders and Hulk, well he smashed everything in sight. I smiled slightly as Clint and I ran along the hallway, everyone was sticking to the plan and so far it had worked.
The more stairs we jumped down, the louder the screams and cries became. This had to be the hostages who were no doubt frightened by the commotion above. We used their voices as a guide to find the correct door.
Finally, we came across a door that was guarded by six armed guards, this had to be the one. I glanced at Clint and he nodded, firing an arrow which was rigged with a bomb and we took cover as it exploded, taking out the guards and creating an opening into the previously locked room.
We ran towards the hole and peered inside. As expected, there were at least 30 people all lined up against the walls in the one room. However what wasn't expected, was the fact that everyone in here looked to be under the age of about 12, they were all children!
No part of the mission file stated that all of the hostages involved were children! Clint and I looked at each other with wide eyes. Well, this mission just got a whole lot more complicated. I cleared my throat and addressed the group.
"Hello? Everyone, I need you to listen up!" I called out loudly, whilst still trying to soften my voice as to not scare the children anymore than what they already were. They all seemed to get the memo and they all went quiet.
"Thank you. Now we are here to save you, and we need you to listen carefully to what we say, so that we can get all of you out of here safely." I instructed and they all nodded eagerly in response.
"We are going to get you out of here, so I need you to form a straight line behind me, in pairs and follow me out of the building ok?" I asked and was about to turn on my heal and walk out of the room when Clint stopped me.
"Steve, look." He mumbled and I turned back around, my gaze following his. I looked at the children more closely and realised that their arms and legs were chained to the wall, not allowing them to move.
"Oh my gosh." I mutter under my breath, so that only Clint could hear. I looked around for a key but found nothing. That is when it dawned on me.
"Tony, Nat?" I called through the comms.
"Yes?"
"Are you at the main room yet?" I asked urgently
"Yeah, we are just finishing up here and are about to leave with the leaders. Have you go the hostages yet?" Tony answered.
"About that, I need you to look in that room for a key. The hostages are chained up and we need a key to get them out." I explained quickly and I could hear rustling coming from their end.
"Yep we found it Cap. I'll get Natasha to run it down to you." Tony said as he turned his comm off.
"Ok, please just wait a moment whilst the key for all those chains is brought down." I said addressing the children. I took a minute to look at all of them more closely. They were dirty and battered, but the bit that broke my heart the most was the terrified looks on all of their faces. The worst of it was, there was nothing I could do to get that look off of their faces until we got them out of here.
I heard the soft pattering of footsteps coming from down the hall and I turned to see the widow herself running towards us with the key in her hand. She entered the room beside me and I heard her curse under her breath at the sight.
She passed the key to me and I knelt down to the child closest to me and fumbled looking for the keyhole in the lock. I found it and held my breath as I used the key to unlock the chain. When I heard the click of the lock releasing I let out the breath I was holding, we had found the right key.
Once I got all of the chains off of the first boy, who looked to be about 10, he rushed over to an even smaller girl, who I assumed to be his sister. Nat grabbed a pin out of her hair and started using that to unlock some of the chains, handing one to Clint to do the same. Within 5 minutes, we had all of the children out of the chains and they were all standing in a corner, as far as they could away from us.
They were clearly terrified of us, regardless of how much we helped them, which is probably only natural for children this age that have been held hostage for who knows how long.
I cleared my throat and gathered all of the children's attention.
"Ok, I need you all to pair up and follow me quietly please." I instructed and they all quickly lined up behind me. Clint walked towards the back of the line to make sure no one was left behind and Nat stationed herself in the middle of the line to make sure nothing happened.
We all started off towards the stairs that would lead us out of the building slowly, due to how small all of the children were.
We slowly made our way out of the building and over to the jet where Tony and Bruce were waiting for us. The look on the children's faces was heart breaking as they saw all of the destruction we had caused in the fight to save them, so we tried to get the children into the jet as quick as possible.
The looks on Tony's and Bruce's faces as we walked into the jet with the children was much like Nat's, shocked at the sight of all the battered children. Once everyone was inside the jet, the back door closed and Clint got the jet to take off.
The rest of us got the children to all sit on the floor in the middle, due to there not being enough seats for all of them. We worked as quickly as possible to get all of the children water and passed cloths out so they could wipe some of the dirt of their faces.
I felt a tug on the bottom of my suit and I looked down to see a little boy, around 6 years old looking up at me. I knelt down to his level and waited patiently for him to talk.
"Are you taking me back to my mummy and daddy?" He asked quietly and my eyes widened. Of course, I should've asked this sooner! I needed to find out more information so that we could get these children back where they should be.
"Yes, we are. What is your name?" I asked calmly trying to get as much information on this kid as I could.
"Samuel Horton." He replied boldly.
"Well Samuel, how did you end up with the bad people?" I asked and he seemed to be deep in thought for a second before he responded.
"They took me, from my mummy when we went to the park." He responded and I felt my heart sink. So the base had kidnapped all of these children from their families! I smiled at the little kid even though my heart was racing and told him that it was all going to be ok and that he would see his parents soon. I stood up quickly and made my way over to the rest of the team, pulling them aside for a word.
"I was just talking to one of the kids, I think they have all been kidnapped for whatever purpose! I'm going to alert Fury and get SHIELD to identify and locate the children's guardians as soon as we get back." I informed them and they all nodded sorrowfully.
When the plane landed, Fury was standing there with about 20 other agents beside him. I got all of the children off of the jet and lead them over to him. All of the agents went over to the children and guided one or two of the children each with them to gather information and get these kids home.
Quickly, all of the children were guided away to be reunited with their families and Fury looked at us gravely.
"Well, good job team. I know the circumstances were not good, we were not aware of how young the hostages were, but you did good. I am pleased that no one got hurt and you got all of the people in charge alive this time for SHEILD." He said and strode away, no doubt to oversee the placement of the children.
We all looked at each other, and although the day had been rough and seeing so many child hostages was scarring, we were all proud of our efforts.
As a team we had improved so much with trusting and working with one another, without it, there was no way it would've been as good of an outcome as it had been.
"Good job Avengers." I said and walked off, attaching my shield to my back as I went.
We had done well, and there were now 30 children that now had family again because of us.