Fire and Ice

•24•

Kate's breath fogs in front of her, but still she feels warm; she never gets cold anymore, which certainly saves her the trouble of buying a winter coat.

The wind whips through her ponytail, pushes the stray hairs around her forehead back, and her arms extend in front of her, periodically blasting when she has a clear shot that won't accidentally hit a nearby tree. That almost never happens though, because Nat is tearing through the forest in this retired SHIELD jeep like a NASCAR driver. Clint stands next to Kate, firing arrows with precision. Behind them, laser-like blasts come from the HYDRA truck, so Kate turns to fire at the driver and/or gunman. Whichever she hits first.

It turns out to be the driver, and, after the car crashes into a tree, Tony flies through and blasts both the driver and gunman for good measure. A guy in a weird suit flies up to the back of the truck, so Kate punches him away with a flaming fist, and Clint sends him off with an arrow. Thor flies overhead, heading for a watchtower. In the distance, Steve's motorcycle hums underneath the screams of HYDRA minion pain. Kate smiles to herself.

The past year of dismantling the remains of HYDRA and searching for Loki's scepter with the other Avengers has been fun for her, especially since these missions have been interspersed with time in the lab and Bucky hunting. They're getting no where on the latter, but the searching is still fun, putting her right back into her favorite pastime as a kid. This time, though, she has much more technology and information at her fingertips.

The new digs are nice, too, and it's been interesting with most of them living in Stark Tower, either for the foreseeable future or temporarily. Friday night game night is never calm when they're able to partake in it.

Up ahead, Thor lands in a streak on a tank of sorts, flipping it over. Hulk appears —though Bruce said he wasn't going to go green — and tosses it to the side as Nat speeds past him. "Get ready to jump!" she shouts as they approach the border of the base. It's a sinister looking fence, metal x's and barbed wire.

Kate jumps forward as Nat jerks the wheel to the side, making the jeep parallel to the barrier while she herself goes airborne. On her left, Clint is preparing to shoot, while Steve jumps the fence on his motorcycle to her right. She's almost tempted to ask him for a lift when she lands, but most of the minions are right here anyway.

She blasts, then gets close enough to roundhouse kick one in the face, her lightweight shoes still packing a punch. It doesn't take long to take him down. She turns, heading for another target, but a stray bullet glances off the metal plating on her shoulders.

It was Tony's idea; he thought it would look cool, and Kate has to admit that it does, particularly with the matching, mostly decorative belt. It's especially awesome when they start to glow red from heat, breaking up the light and dark gray of the rest of the suit, along with the protective mesh sleeves on her forearms. Stark really is a genius.

"Would you be careful?!" Nat chides, taking out a guy next to her.

Kate shrugs, blasting the guy coming at her. "To be fair, I don't think that was meant for me."

"Just be glad they have bad aim."

"Just be glad I don't," Clint jokes, shooting down the last of the minions in the area as Kate takes her guy out.

She rolls her eyes, then asks, "Spread out?"

"As long as you promise not to get yourself killed," Nat replies, but she walks on anyways, going towards the left. Kate heads towards the middle, while Clint takes the right. Overhead, Tony flies towards the building, but evidently something goes wrong because he swears into the comms.

"Language!" Steve chides. "JARVIS, what's the view from upstairs?"

"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield," JARVIS replies as a few minions run out from behind the trees at Kate. "Strucker's technology is well beyond any other HYDRA base we've taken." She blasts them, catching one's clothes on fire, taking care of the other two with hand-to-hand and their own weapons while the other panics and puts himself out.