Five and a half hours in the car on the way to South Carolina, and I managed to whip up the airport battle in the first half. Who's the best? :)
Enjoy everyone beating the crap out of each other!
***
If there was one thing Clint hated in life, it was when couples meant to be together fought. Of course, most couples weren't freaking aliens who were more than likely the strongest people he knew.
So, as he and Natasha clashed, he tried to avoid looking up in the sky to where the Doctor and Jessie were duking it out. He had turned his bow into a baton, Natasha wielding the two of hers expertly. Clint managed to pin her down, and Natasha looked at him worriedly. "We're still friends, right?"
"Depends on how hard you hit me," Clint smirked.
Abruptly, she wrapped her legs around him, switching their positions so he was under her. She got to her feet, about to kick her –
A hellish red glow surrounded her foot, and Natasha looked to the side, eyes wide. In the next second, she was flung into a large truck nearby, and she groaned as she fell to the ground, closing her eyes.
Clint scrambled up and looked to the side, only to see Wanda give him a chastising look. "You were pulling your punches," she said bluntly.
Clint nodded thankfully, and the two of them hurried into the fray again.
***
"Hey, Icicle!" Pietro sang as he whipped around her, then grinned and stopped behind where she was currently looking. "Boo!" Saleen spun around, firing icicles at Pietro. He just caught one and sped onto the top of another truck. "Need a hand?" he taunted, and Saleen threw more at him. He just sped off behind her again, laughing. "You really aren't good at this!"
Saleen screamed in frustration, but Pietro just grinned and ran at her, bringing her to the ground.
***
Bucky winced as T'Challa grabbed his throat, reaching out with his metal hand to grab his as well. "I didn't kill your father," he rasped.
"Then why did you run?" T'Challa challenged.
Bucky's eyes widened in disbelief when T'Challa managed to pull his arm from his neck, then spun him around, jumping in the air and kicking him to the ground. Bucky shook his head, trying to recover, watching T'Challa's claws extend and aim for his neck –
A blur of black and silver slammed into him, and Bucky scrambled to his feet as Jessie tackled T'Challa to the ground. "Thanks," he sputtered in surprise.
Jessie just nodded, then took off into the sky again, a fireball narrowly missing her as the Doctor flew after her.
***
Martha rolled on the asphalt, getting to her knees, pausing when she didn't see Clara anywhere. She paused, baton raised and ready as she slowly pivoted, looking around. She knew Clara's abilities allowed her to be on any surface comfortably. And they were surrounded by trucks and shipping containers that was antigravity heaven. She rotated one last time –
Something crashed into her from behind, and Martha shrieked as she collapsed on the ground, wincing when she felt knees dig into her back. "Can I just say," Clara said as she leaned down, "I completely hate this?"
"Then why did you come?" Martha groaned.
"Same reason the Doctor did. To try and convince the one I love not to fight."
Martha shook her head. "You know they would."
"Doesn't mean I couldn't try."
Martha spun, intending to take Clara out, but the brunette propelled herself onto the side of one of the shipping containers and planted one hand on her chest, pushing her back. Martha stumbled as Clara landed back on the ground, rushing at her.
***
Steve looked around when Peter swung towards him, then threw his shield and snapped his web line. Peter landed on one of the luggage carts. "That thing does not obey the laws of physics at all," he declared.
"Look, kid, there's a lot going on here that you don't understand," Steve told him, catching his shield when it came back.
"Mr. Stark said you'd say that. Wow." Peter suddenly webbed his shield, followed by his ankle. Steve fell to the sound, Peter yanking him towards him. When he was close enough, Peter kicked him backwards. Steve tumbled away, his shield skidding further. "He also said to go for your legs!"
Steve jumped to his feet, running for his shield, when Peter webbed his hands. Steve ground his teeth when Peter tried to pull him back, then jumped and did a somersault in midair, tossing Peter through the air.
***
Sam had lost Rhodey for the moment, but that meant he had to deal with Tony . . . and the still stray lightning bolts that occasionally flew past. "Clint!" he called. "Can you get him off me?"
Clint drew back his bowstring, aiming for Tony. "Buckled in?"
"Yeah," Scott answered, miniaturized and on the arrowhead. "No, I'm good. I'm good, Arrow Guy. Let's go, let's go!"
Clint smirked to himself, firing. The arrowhead split in midair, and Tony spun around, shooting the multiple shards. He didn't even see Scott dive onto his hand and run into his suit.
***
Steve grabbed one of Peter's webs, pulling him towards him, using his shield to knock him down. Peter recovered quite quickly, though, and used his webs to ascend to the top of a gangway. "Stark tell you anything else?" he asked.
"That you're wrong," Peter answered. "You think you're right. That makes you dangerous."
Peter swung down, but Steve was ready this time. He leapt into the air and kicked Peter backwards, sending the teenager into one of the gangway legs. "Guess he had a point," he quipped, throwing his shield and taking out the gangway leg. He was surprised, however, when Peter managed to hold the gangway up when it collapsed on him. He placed his shield on his arm and considered him, impressed. "You got heart, kid. Where're you from?"
"Queens," Peter grunted.
Steve barely refrained from laughing out loud. How about that? "Brooklyn," he grinned, pointing to himself before running off.
***
Tony fired in Clint's direction, the archer firing arrows at him constantly, when his weapons started sputtering. "FRIDAY?" he asked in confusion.
"We have some weapon systems offline," his AI answered.
"They what?" Tony asked in disbelief, looking at his repulsors in shock.
***
Scott grinned to himself when he heard the announcement. "Oh, you're gonna have to take this into the shop!" he called to the billionaire as he pulled more wires, disabling more of his systems.
"Who's speaking?" Tony asked angrily.
"It's your conscience," he answered cheekily. "We don't talk a lot these days!"
"FRIDAY?" Tony asked.
"Deploying firing suppression system."
Scott paused in his work, then his eyes widened when he saw the cloud of gas approaching him. "Uh oh. Oh, boy!" He ran through the workings, constantly pursued by the gas. "Whoa!" he yelped when he was ejected from the suit, spinning through the air.
***
Jessie dove through the sky, wishing now more than ever that she had learned to utilize the Aether as the Doctor had. Her strengths had always been electricity and fire. Sure, she could use the Aether as a form of telekinesis, but when had the Doctor learned how to shape the Aether to make weapons?
In a flash, he had ropes of the Aether around her wrists, and she yelped when he flung her head over heels for the ground. She winced, scrambling to try and fly off again –
Bucky came from nowhere, snatching her out of the air. They tumbled to the ground, Bucky making sure he landed underneath her. "Thanks," Jessie panted, getting to her feet.
"First the brainwashing, then from the cat," Bucky looked around for T'Challa as they ran off, the Doctor landing on the ground, about to run after them before changing his mind and going after Pietro, who was obviously beating Saleen. "Might as well start saving your ass, too."
Jessie laughed, startled, then Bucky grabbed her and pulled her down behind one of the shipping containers as repulsors pummeled the ground behind them. Steve appeared on the opposite side. "We gotta go," Bucky called to him. "That guy's probably in Siberia by now."
"We gotta draw out the flyers," Steve peered out. "I'll take Vision, you get to the jet."
"No, you get to the jet, the three of you!" Sam shouted. "The rest of us aren't getting out of here."
"As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it," Clint added.
"We can handle ourselves," Pietro threw in his pitch.
"Steve, this isn't the real fight," Martha said.
Steve looked over at Jessie, who nodded. "Go," she tilted her head in the Quinjet's direction. "I can handle Vision."
Surprisingly, Steve and Bucky weren't the ones to protest at first. "The hell you won't!" Martha shouted.
"Bad Wolf, you've got to go!" Wanda joined in.
"I swear to God, Bad Wolf, if you don't go, I'm running you there myself," Pietro threatened.
"Guys – " Jessie began.
"Bad Wolf, you can't risk it here!" Martha interrupted. "Vision is vibranium, T'Challa has vibranium claws – and have you thought about what happens if they make the wrong hit on you?"
Steve narrowed his eyes when he saw Jessie seem to shrink, her face paling. "What do I not know?" he demanded.
She didn't answer. "Either you tell him, or I will," Martha warned.
Jessie swallowed hard. "I asked Martha to run a few tests when we arrived at the compound," she whispered hoarsely. "Something's been happening to me on one of our recent adventures, something that's never happened before. The nausea, the vomiting, the hunger rushes, and most recently, panic and stress attacks. Wanda made the connection when I did. I just asked Martha to be sure. We were right."
A chill ran down Steve's spine. "You're pregnant," he realized.
Jessie nodded, one arm protectively around her stomach. "Yes."
"And you've been fighting out here?" Clint yelled over the comms. "Jessie, what the hell?!"
"We tried to stop her!" Martha called as Bucky cursed, yanking his metal arm around Jessie's shoulders, shielding her behind him as Steve closed his eyes. They hadn't been at the compound long before he called for the Avengers to assemble. He knew how long those tests took. It couldn't have been completed before they left for Lagos . . . and with all the chaos of the Accords, there was no way Jessie would have had the time to tell anyone. That meant only Martha and the Maximoffs knew, and now his team . . .
The Doctor was going to tear them apart when he found out. "You are coming with us," he threw Jessie a look, the woman with a deer in the headlights look. "But if things turn ugly, and for the worst, you are staying in the Quinjet, and that is an order. Your first priority is keeping that child safe."
"Understood," she whispered.
Steve sighed. "All right," he looked around. "Believe me, everyone, the Doctor will have our heads if Jessie gets so much as a single scratch on her. Our priority is getting her out of here. All of us do that, he might take it easy on us."
"Copy," Sam said.
"Copy," Clint responded.
"Copy," Wanda put in.
"Copy," Pietro said.
"Copy," Scott said.
"Unanimous," Martha put in.
"All right," Steve straightened. "What's the play?"
"I can cover you, but we need a diversion," Sam answered. "Something big."
"I got something kind of big," Scott volunteered. "But I can't hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half, don't come back for me."
"He's gonna tear himself in half?" Bucky did a double take.
"You're sure about this, Scott?" Steve frowned.
***
"I do it all the time," Scott answered as he ran across the mobile stairs. "I mean . . . once. In a lab. Then I passed out." He took a deep breath. "I'm the boss, I'm the boss, I'm the boss, I'm the boss, I'm the boss!"
He leaped into the air and landed on Rhodey's back as he flew by. He clung to the armor and quickly scrolled through the panel on his wrist. It lit up blue, and he closed his eyes before pressing the button on his glove.
In seconds, he grew rapidly, towering high in the sky, and grabbed Rhodey's leg before he could fly off.
***
"Holy shit!" Peter stumbled backwards, eyes wide.
"What the hell?" Clara gawked when she saw Scott, and Martha took the opportunity to swipe her legs out from under her before she ran towards where she saw Steve, Bucky, and Jessie.
"OK, tiny dude is big now," Rhodey sputtered, flailing about, everyone on Tony's team in complete, utter shock . . . and none of them noticed as Clint, Wanda, and Pietro ran after Martha towards the trio, Sam swooping down. "He's big now."
***
"I guess that's the signal," Steve mumbled.
"Way to go, Tic Tac!" Sam cheered.
"Go!" Martha yelled.
"Come on," Bucky tugged lightly on Jessie's arm.
She started to run, Steve and Bucky behind her, the rest of the team closing in behind them, Sam covering them from above.
No way were all of them making it to the Quinjet, but they sure as hell were going to make sure those three made it on.
***
So for all of you folks guessing since the very beginning of Series 8 . . . yes, Jessie has indeed been pregnant this entire time. I probably didn't fool any of you in trying to get you off the trail, but hey, it was fun trying!
So you can imagine how . . . interesting Siberia is going to play out now.
I'll get the Quinjet escape out momentarily!