twenty three.
『 TRAGEDY IN LAGOS 』
The Avengers were a symbol of hope. They brought my light to a darkened world. And while not everyone agreed with them — others loved them. Some saw them as monsters. Some as vigilantes. Some saw them as something more. And while the team wasn't what it once was, with new faces, they were still just that. Avengers. Ready to save the world at a moment's notice. Protect the world from any threats.
And there would always be threats.
Threats the Avengers would have to take care of.
Nothing major or world ending had happened in the months since Ultron. Steve was looking for somebody for a lot of the time, but they weren't getting anywhere. And there wasn't anything else for them to do except try their best to be kept on the public's good side. Ever since Sokovia there was a small rise of people thinking the Avengers weren't good. Honestly though, more people were currently promoting the Avengers, and were in their side thinking they did good.
However, ever since Sokovia, some were more nervous. The Avengers would always be feared. They were the most powerful group in the galaxy, and it seemed everyone knew that now. Tensions were rising. Doubt lurked in corners and darkness was cast over the name. We're they truly doing good if they were causing this after all? They'd been part of the problem in destroying cities. Lives.
Who was to say if the Avengers were good or bad? They hadn't been right in some ways but not had they been wrong.
So right now they'd just settle for okay.
Settling wasn't really happening today.
For the past year, Hallie had been training with the Avengers. It was nice. For once she felt like she found somewhere she actually belonged. She had friends. People she cared about other than Harley and it felt as though her life was coming together — even if Wanda and Natasha called her crazy for dying her hair blonde, which was already starting to fade. But it felt nice for someone to call her crazy for something so normal, even if that sounded weird, she she had no doubt it did.
They hadn't had many missions. Just taking care of the remnants of HYDRA chasing down Steve Roger's new sworn enemy, Rumlow. They hadn't had much on him in six months, and so as soon as they heard a top about him being in Lagos, they took it without hesitation.
Personally, Hallie didn't have anything with Rumlow. But she learned if you were associated with HYDRA, there was like a 96 percent chance you were a bad guy.
Hallie stood on a rooftop, looking tense in her yellow and black special uniform, now fire proof and not in stores near you. It had become recognizable. She had become recognizable. It was odd. Whatever she meant. A symbol like the Avengers? And to think, three years ago she wanted to be normal.
Her comms crackled to life. "All right, what do you see?" The familiar voice of Steve Rogers asked.
Wanda, who was in disguise at a little cafe answered, "Standard beat cops. Small station. Quiet street. It's a good target." As she surveyed the area around them.
"There's an ATM in the south corner, which means. . ."
"Cameras." The Maximoff answered.
Steve Rogers: Both cross streets are one way.
"So, compromised escape routes."
"Means our guy doesn't care about being seen, he isn't afraid to make a mess on the way out." Steve explains as Wanda discreetly drinks her coffee, the team of superheroes going unnoticed by civilians , managing to blend in. And the one's that didn't ━ like Hallie ━ stood out of view of the crowd. "You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?"
"Yeah, the red one? It's cute."
Natasha Romanoff then speaks up, "It's also bulletproof, which means private security, which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us." She summarized.
"You guys know I can move things with my mind, right?"
"Sheesh, no need to brag about it." Hallie responded teasingly, and she could picture the slightly younger woman rolling her eyes, which seemed to have become frequent when around Hallie.
"Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature." Natasha said.
"I didn't realize this counted as a lesson." Hallie muttered, just loud enough that they could hear her.
Over the past few months since Ultron, Natasha and Steve had taken to beating them into shape ━ into a team. Sure, they weren't the best team. They weren't all exactly Avengers material. But they were learning. With the difficult and rigorous training of the two original Avengers.
"Everything is a lesson." Steve countered.
"Anybody ever tell you you're a little paranoid?" Sam says in response as to Natasha.
"Not to my face. Why? Did you hear something?" The spy asks.
Steve turns them back into track. "Eyes on target, folks. This is the best lead we've had on Rumlow in six months. I don't want to lose him."
Sam chuckles. "If he sees us coming that won't be a problem. He kind of hates us." He pointed out.
"What'd you do to him again?" Hallie asks, rubbing her head and watching the street below, but not seeing anything yet.
"Dropped a building on him."
"That's a good reason to hate somebody then." Hallie muttered.
"He's an ass and HYDRA."
"Also a good reason to hate somebody."
"Hallie. Sam."
"Sorry."
Hallie frowns, hearing commotion coming from the street on the other side of the building. She walks over, looking down to where most of her team was, watching a garbage truck push through the street with no regard for pedestrians and traffic. Cars honked at it as it pushed through, not stopping.
"Steve━"
"I know. Sam, see that garbage truck? Tag it."
Hallie waited, standing aside and fidgeting slightly as she waited to hear a response from Sam. It could've been a false alarm, but she stayed tense. Perhaps Natasha was right about the whole "looking over your shoulder" thing.
"That truck's loaded for max weight. And the driver's armed." Sam informed.
"It's a battering ram." Natasha realized.
"Go now." Steve ordered.
"What?"
"He's not hitting the police."
Hallie who hadn't been prepared to jump into a fight so fast quickly jumped from the building she was on. The pavement cracked under her weight, and she heard something crash, a sound that resounded across the city. She found herself glad that she was so close to the scene of the dramatic break in, so she didn't have to run so far without Sam to give her a lift.
"Body armor, AR-15's. I make eight hostiles." Steve said.
Hallie reached the sight, running through the rubble of the barrier that no longer stood. Around her were three, including the crashed one, trucks, that must've been carrying the soldier that had attacked.
She was hardly graceful as she stood behind one of the soldiers. With enough force, she kicked him in the back causing him to crash into one of the deserted trucks. The man didn't get back up, and she assumed he was passed out from the small noise he was making. She'd learned enough restraint to kick with just the right amount of force without killing someone.
"Make that seven."
There was the sound of bullets and Sam chimed in, "I make 5." More echoing sounds of destruction. "Four." He corrects, as the group of four gathers in front of the building in which the agents had chosen to attack. Hallie hadn't gotten a good enough look at what the sign said, but she's pretty sure whatever it is isn't good.
"Rumlow's on the third floor." Sam calls to Steve.
Quickly, the Captain orders, "Wanda, just like we practiced. Hallie too."
"Huh?"
"What about the gas?" Wanda questioned.
"Get it out."
Elegantly, Steve propels himself up, and with the help of Wanda's magical abilities he soars upward, straight to the third floor and crashes through the glass, Hallie watching uneasily.
"You ready?" Wanda asks her.
"Yeah," she nods, looking uncertain. "Just, don't kill me."
Wanda rolls her eyes once again, and perhaps of the situation wasn't so dire she would've been amused. Copying Steve's movements and hoping to god that she didn't trip, she jumps onto the truck, and carried by Wanda feels her stomach do flips as she crashes through the window, which was already broken but without good aim, she feels tiny pieces of glasses scratch her skin.
She holds her breath, not wanting to inhale whatever gas was being used. Like a car, she lands on her feet, the impact of the ground not stopping her from immediately running. In sight are two, very armed guards, who turn and point their weapons at her. Before they can fire though, she holds up her hand, and a ray of fire seems to shoot from it, knocking one of the soldiers out of the way.
Advancing quickly, she dodges the spray of bullets. Standing before him, she grabs the tip of his gun, her hand hearing the metal and melting it to the point where she was able to bend it. The man had no time to recover before she punched him, her fist connecting with his nose and from the echoing cry of pain and sickening crunch, she no doubt broke it.
The brunette looks around, spotting Steve hiding behind a pillar as someone shoots at him. He doesn't have a chance to respond to the fire, because next second Hallie holds her own hands up, fire at the opposing man and he flies into a wall somewhere.
Steve nods at her, not saying anything, both running short on breath as they don't want to inhale the fumes.
However, their dilemma disappears, the savior coming in the form of red mist like trendils, swirling around the room and collecting the untouchable gas which is filtered from the building, allowing them to breath openly again.
Steve sets off, using his "mission walk", Hallie following close behind the man to find Rumlow.
However, the former HYDRA agent is no longer in the building, and Hallie's stomach drops seeing that so far, Rumlow's mission was going much more successfully compared to theirs. This revelation comes in the form of a missing vial, contains what, Hallie didn't know exactly.
"Rumlow has a biological weapon." Steve informs the rest of the team, the two marching from the scene of the crime.
"I'm on it."
Steve ran out the doors to look outside over the balcony, Hallie following behind him and looking out just in time to see Rumlow pointing a missile on the balcony in which they stood, ready to fire. Quickly Steve pushed Hallie back into the building, causing her to stumble slightly at the push but quickly she started running, hearing the sound of something exploding behind her and feeling debris spray her back as she ran in the opposite direction.
Steve, who had been knocked back into a wall, scrambled and ran after her, barely missing the next shot as the AFV seemed to be heading in the same direction, following them, intent on killing them.
They were less lucky with the next shot as they were knocked out a window, Hallie bracing herself for the ground but unlike Steve managed to land on the first landing point, Steve receiving multiple hits as he went down, grunting in pain.
More gracefully than he had, Hallie jumped down from her position, landing on two feet in a crouch on the ground and reaching out a hand to help Steve up which he accepted gratefully as he grunted out instructions, "Sam. He's in an AFV heading north."
"I got four, they're splitting up." Sam informed.
"I got the two on the left."
Steve and Hallie arrived on scene in the marketplace having quickly made haste for the area and with the different serums in their system moving faster than the average human. Bending down, Steve noted the gear that they had ditched and Hallie immediately began looking around to see who was out of place in such an area.
"They ditched their gear. It's a shell game now. One of them has the payload."
Hearing the sound of beeping, Hallie looked around, seeing the bomb on Steve's shield. He moved quickly, tossing the shield into the air just in time before it exploded as screams rang out around them.
Taking the moment of distracted, Rumlow punched Steve, causing him to go flying. Hallie quickly moved to punch him back, but was stopped as his hand caught her own, his other hitting her square in the stomach and sending her backward into the crowd of people causing her to groan. "There you are, you son of a bitch." He growled, stalking closer to Steve. "I've been waiting for this!"
Hallie recovered quickly, standing up feeling blood drop into her eye, but feeling the wound healing quickly as well. She could hear the sounds of the two fighting, and turned towards the civilians.
"Get out of here!" She called to them, her arms moving as though she was herding cattle out of the way. "Go!"
Some seemed to heed her advice, grabbing their things and running away. She turned back to where Steve and Rumlow were, running towards where they were and avoiding the things that were cutting through the air due to the fight. Seeing the knife Rumlow held Hallie intercepted it, grabbing his arm and pulling it away from Steve, kicking out and her foot knocking him in the abdomen causing him to fly backwards.
Steve stalked toward the former HYDRA agentHallie following him close behind, watching him pull off his helmet and dropping it to the ground, coming around to see him as he bent down on his knees before them. Steve stared in shock after grabbing him, seeing the scars on his face.
Looking away, Rumlow said, "I think I look pretty good, all things considered."
The moment of shock passed, and Steve roughly handled him, "Who's your buyer?"
Instead of answering, Rumlow said, "You know, he knew you. You pal, your buddy, your Bucky." He grunted heavily, ruling up Steve who clenched his teeth in anger, pulling him forward.
"What did you say?"
"He remembered you." Rumlow answered. "I was there. He got all weepy about it. Till they put his brain back in a blender. He wanted you to know something. He said to me, "Please tell Rogers. When you gotta go, you gotta go." And you're coming with me."
Hallie's eyes widened seeing the button in his hand which he pressed, Steve quickly letting him go and backing up to avoid the explosion, Hallie looking for cover despite knowing there was none there.
For a second it seemed like a miracle as a round red ball engulfed him, shielding them from the explosion and Hallie looked over to see Wanda, who was struggling with the effort to contain the explosion. But then her arms moved up and Rumlow and the explosion were sent into the sky, hitting the building with an explosion so mighty it shook the building windows shattering and fire raining down on them.
"Oh my. . . Sam. . . We need. . . Fire and Rescue. . . on the south side of the building. We gotta get up there."
( a / n ) : it's been a long long time. . . sorry for the wait but I hope you enjoyed.