Steve and I jogged under the underpass, towards the chopper that sat idle on the private runway. The airport was deserted, and it set me on edge, an airport without any people.
"You up for this?" Steve said through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?" I replied with a grin. He shook his head.
"Oh, I don't know. You've been through hell in the last few days," he stated as we approached the runway.
"I'll get over it," I said, distracted by the electro disabler that attached itself to the chopper, shutting it down within seconds. My head snapped to the side, and I saw Tony and Rhodey emerge from around a jet, both in Ironman suits without helmets. Steve and I slowed to a halt, Clint not far behind.
"Wow, its so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?" Tony said sarcastically to Rhodey.
"Definitely weird," Rhodey replied, playing along with Tony's theatrics as per usual.
"Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this," Steve pleaded. Our plan was to try and talk it out before resorting to violence, and we wouldn't be the ones to start it. To the side of us, the Black Panther leapt over a truck, his sleek black suit and dazzling claws menacing.
"Captain," he said to Steve. Steve nodded.
"You Highness."
My brother's head swivelled and glared at me. "Khethiwe," he said to me, his voice chiselled with anger. I ignored his gaze, staring at Tony
"Anyway, Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?" Tony held out a hand. Had it really been 24 hours since we escaped the CIA building? It didn't feel like it at all. It felt much shorter, like only a few hours. I noticed Natasha and Vision hovering beside Tony and Rhodey now, and Natasha gave me a hard stare.
"You're after the wrong guy," Steve said, his tone harder now.
"Your judgement is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday," Tony said, his tone laced with rage, subtle but still there.
"And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't," Steve sounded desperate, a tone I didn't like on him.
"Steve...you know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?" Natasha said, cocking her head to the side.
"You're willing to fight with her on your side? She lied to you! To all of us!" Tony yelled, his patience finally wearing thin. I flinched, his words like knives to my chest.
"Keight did what she had to. I can't deny it was wrong but I'm not willing to throw her away over a mistake. We all messed up, not just her," Steve defended me, but I almost didn't want him to. I wanted to be yelled at. I wanted to feel the pain I had caused. Instead, I pulled back my hood, shaking my choppy hair free, finally able to stand in the light. Who cared if the world knew who I was? I wasn't going to listen to them anymore.
"All right, I've run out of patience," Tony cupped his hands around his mouth. "Underoos!"
From above, a stream of sticky white webbing gripped Steve's shield and wrenched it from his hands. A small, slight figure in a skin-tight red and blue suit sailed over us, flipping in perfect form to land on a truck near Tony, shield in arms and large white eyes staring at us. Steve's hands were glued together with the sticky webbing in front of him.
"Nice job kid," Tony said to the boy. I felt a pang in my chest as Tony used the pet name he had given me on someone else.
"Thanks. Well, I could have stuck the landing a little better. It's just the new suit...well it's nothing Mr Stark. Its-its perfect. Thank you." He sounded young, maybe 15 at the most. What the hell was Tony doing dragging some actual kid into this mess? Doesn't he realize he could get seriously hurt? This was a not a game. It was real life, with consequences.
"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation," Tony said, irritated.
"Ok. Cap...Captain. Big fan," the kid said to Steve, almost saluting him. He was cute, in a kid way, and I actually kind of liked him.
"You're that Spider-Kid thing, right? Who's been swinging around Queens?" I said, drawing eyes but ignoring them. The kid nodded.
"Yeah, I'm-I'm Spider-Man. And you're, whoa you're Toxin. Wow, without the mask? This is crazy Mr Stark," he rambled, his little voice making me smile.
"Yeah, we'll talk about it later. Just..." Tony didn't even finish as he sighed, knowing the kid wasn't listening to him.
"Hey everyone," Spider-man said with a little wave, and I waved back, and his head bobbed with excitement.
"Good job," Tony muttered.
"You've been busy," Steve remarked, nodding at Spider-Man.
"And you've been a complete idiot. Dragging in Clint, 'rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep...I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart." Tony started off angry, but ended his sentence sounding deflated, like there was no alternative.
"You did that when you signed," Steve said harshly, his lips pursed in a hard line.
Tony's face hardened, his already dark eyes narrowing. I could see the desperation, the anger and pain that had overridden his common sense and meant he was taking the only action he saw fit; violence. If he could stop us from getting away, even if it meant hurting us, then his job was done.
"Alright. We're done. You're going to turn Barnes and Keight over, you're gonna come with us. NOW!" His shouted it like an order, like he thought he had any kind of control over us. "Because it's us! Or a squad of J-SOC guys...with no compunction about being impolite." Steve looked away. "Come on."
My comms crackled with static, then a voice.
"We found it. Their Quin-jet's in hanger five, north runway," Sam reported, his voice somewhat distant. It was comforting nonetheless.
Steve held his hands up above his head and Clint shot an arrow through it, freeing him.
"Alright Lang," Steve said, to the confusion of the opposite team. Spider-man turned and looked at the shield, cocking his head.
"Hey guys, something-" He was interrupted by the sudden growth of Scott, who had managed in all out stalling to climb aboard the shield unnoticed. He appeared out of nowhere, knocking the shield out of Spider-man's hands and jumping over to us, where he held it out to Steve.
"I believe this is yours, Captain America," he said, his excitement leaking through his suave act.
"Whoa. What-what the hell was that?" Rhodey stuttered in surprise. I smirked.
"That's frickin Ant-Man. Cool, right?" Scott gave me a look of pure joy as Steve took back his shield.
"Oh great. Alright, there two on the parking deck. One of them is Maximoff. I'm gonna grab her. Rhodey, you wanna take Cap?" Tony said, orders flowing from his lips. I glanced up at T'Challa, watching silently. I curled hand hands into fists.
"Got two in the terminal. Wilson and Barnes," Rhodey replied.
"Barnes is mine!" T'Challa growled.
"I don't think so," I hissed back, grabbing his attention.
"Hey Mr Stark, what should I do?" Spider-man said eagerly. Tony sighed like a exasperated father.
"What we discussed. Keep your distance. Web 'em up," he replied.
"Okay, copy that!" he squeaked and swung around.
"I'll take the kid," I muttered to Steve as I passed him, running after the Spider-man. Steve didn't protest but let me go as my brother approached him. Scott faced Natasha, and I felt a swell of pity for him.
"Hey Spider-Kid, wait up!" I yelled. As I thought, he turned, his fanboy excitement too much to resist.
"Hey, uh, what should I call you? Because I feel like I can't call you Toxin without the mask, and Keight seems super weird," he rattled on, swinging down from a plane and whizzing past me, almost catching me with his webs.
"I mean, Your Highness would do. Did Tony tell you about the whole princess thing?" I scrambled after him as he flew from plane to plane, all the while shooting those damned webs at me.
"Uh, yeah, yeah he did. Wait, if I hurt you, does that mean I'll be like, executed or something because you're royalty?" he gasped, stopping mid swing to ponder his thoughts. I stopped running, out of breath.
"We don't, execute people. You're thinking medieval kings or something," I looked around. We were blocked in by planes and I couldn't see the fight going on anywhere else.
"Oh man. That would have been the best way to die. Death by execution, just like in Pirates of the Caribbean," he rambled. Seriously, who was this kid?
"But Jack Sparrow doesn't even die. He escapes," I said, launching myself onto the wing of the plane he was perched on. He jumped, like he had forgotten he was in the middle of a fight and shot a web at me, which I was too slow to miss. It pinned my left hand to my chest.
"Yeah, that's true. If I was him I would have stayed to be honest. Who would waste the opportunity to like, end?" His Gen-Z culture was starting to show itself with that dark joke, and I instantly liked him even better.
"Same kid. Same," I looked down at my hand glued to my chest and within seconds had burned through the webbing and was free. The Spider-man kid looked like he was about to faint, which was impressive because I couldn't see his face.
"You're so much cooler than I thought. Like, seriously cool," he gushed, then slipped away around the corner of a plane before I could reach him.
"Why did I choose babysitting duty?" I muttered, dashing around the corner to find nothing. A pair of surprisingly big feet slammed into my back, sending my flailing to the ground, landing hard on my right side.
"I don't know. Would you rather be fighting Mr Stark?" the kid said, sending webbing to the ground where my head was only a second before. I spun on my knees and stood, hands burning and veins buzzing. I was afraid to take a shot at him with the extra energy in my system. Green spots danced in the corners of my vision, a repeat of last time when I had passed out from the overdose.
"Kid, I would much rather be back in my room, watching Supernatural and eating pizza. Yet here I am, fighting a toddler in a skin-tight suit who shoots silly string from his wrists." I ducked as he swung at me again. "Anything beats this. I can't even use my powers against you."
"Sure, you can. I can take – uh, who's that?" The kid stopped mid sentence and looked to the left, the white fabric of his eyes somehow widening. I spun, and when I saw who it was my stomach plummeted.
In all black combat gear, with a HYDRA vest strapped around her torso, her shoulder length hair streaked with blood from a dried cut on her forehead, and blue eyes glowing as blue flames snaked across her arms and neck, rageful and hot.
"Hey kid, you should, uh, get out of here," I waved him off without looking at him.
"Who is that? She looks-"
"Dangerous. And she's after me, not you. So scram," I stood my ground as she sprinted towards me, blazing. "Steve, I've got a new hostile. Nothing to do with the Accords. She's an inhuman, and she's after me. Don't interfere." I hissed into my comms. There was a crackle and a reply, but I didn't hear them as Rebekah swung her arm back and fired a flaming ball of blue fire at us. I anticipated her aim, and I knew as it came towards us that Spider-man wouldn't be able to swing out of the way in time. She aimed for him to get him out of the way, but I wouldn't allow that to happen.
As the ball of flame hurtled at him, I thrust out my arms and wrapped him in a ball of translucent green energy, and the blue flame hit the circumference and dissipated into nothing. Spider-man floated inside the ball and when the last tendrils of flame were gone I released him, and he fell to the ground.
"You saved me," the kid said, clearly shaken.
"I'll give you one piece of advice kid. From one Avenger to another." He stared up at me in awe, and if I could see his face he would have been smiling. "Don't turn out like me. Now get out of my way," I pushed past him and heard him swing away, probably after Bucky and Sam. I bent my knees, facing Rebekah as she ran, slower now.
"What do you want?" I yelled, standing my ground.
"You!" she screamed, her eyes narrowed. I placed a hand over my chest.
"I'm flattered, but unfortunately taken," I said with a theatrical sigh. She sneered, her lips turned up like a wolf. She neared me, flaming and bright.
"You humiliated me," she growled.
"In front of who? A broken security camera and the devil on your shoulder?" I snarked, circling her like a lion for the kill.
"You disgust me," she spat, her eyes cold and shark like. I bowed slightly.
"You forget, that I disgust myself so much that at this point nothing you say will affect me," I smiled sweetly, and she blasted a ring of fire at me. My grin melted.
"Keight? You ok?" Steve said through the comms, his voice strained.
"I'm ok. Just let me finish this," I gritted my teeth. I spun one leg at her and caught her on the shoulder. She staggered, and it enough for me to get a blast at her arm, singling the combat gear and making her cry out.
"Get out of here Rebekah. This isn't your fight and you know you'll lose."
"I've waited two years for this. And after I kill you, I'll finish the job I left in New Zealand," Rebekah aimed another blast at me and I wasn't quick enough. It grazed the side of my neck, burning my flesh. I cried out, and when she came near and tried to get me again I punched her in the side of the head and felt her skull crack under the pressure. She went down, out cold, a slight dent in her temple where I had cracked the bone. I chose not to dwell on it.
I jogged back around the corner of the plane to the chaos that awaited me. Tony fired a rocket that exploded just behind Wanda and Clint, and T'Challa and Steve fought hand to hand.
"Sorry Cap. This won't kill you, but it ain't gonna tickle either," I heard Rhodey say from beside Steve and watched as he hit his shield with a mace, and he flew backwards, landing, surprisingly, at my feet.